The Demons of Discord
by woodsgotwood
Summary: Nico di Angelo, one year after the Giant War, returns to Camp Half-Blood for what he thought would be the last time. However, things soon go awry as he gets caught up in a New Prophecy with two of the most annoying campers he had ever met. They have until the night of Halloween to stop the mastermind behind the various monster attacks going around the country. Nico/OC
1. Nico Crashes a Party

Nico di Angelo was anything but social, and the idea that he would want to take part in the celebratory festivities that marked the one year anniversary of the victory of the Giant War was simply preposterous. It was simply by accident that he returned to Camp Half-Blood on the anniversary. Traveling to and fro from the Underworld and the Mortal Realm often left Nico with a rather murky internal clock, as time was hard to measure down in the Underworld. It was also pure coincidence that he happened to shadow travel inside the Camp boundaries and be bombarded by bright colors and insanely happy campers. He had told himself that it would be a quiet journey, that he was just going to stop in and leave as quickly as possible, but that obviously was not the case.

He had decided recently to make this last stop to Camp Half-Blood. He had a few things of value in the Hades cabin at the Camp, and wanted to retrieve them before he left on his journey. He had no one to say goodbye to there and no one to tell where he was going. He did suppose that he could stop in on Jason and see how he was doing, but Nico always did hate goodbyes. He had planned all of his emotional strength to be used when he stopped by New Rome to tell Hazel goodbye, anyway. He knew that she would try to make him stay, but he simply did not feel like he fit in anywhere. He knew he would be happier traveling around the country - maybe even the world. Perhaps he would actually be able to "find himself," whatever that meant. At any rate, he knew for sure that this would be the last time he would see Camp Half-Blood.

Unfortunately, the Fates had sided against him that day. He had hoped that shadow traveling to the outskirts of the Big House in the evening would leave him some privacy, assuming that most of the campers would be at the campfire. However, he was incredibly annoyed to see that he had appeared into the middle of a cheering crowd. The unexpected landing threw off his balance - he had basically appeared in the same spot as another camper, a boy who looked about his age with very curly black hair and a black hoodie over his orange camp t-shirt.

"Whoa, watch out there," he said as Nico slammed into him and stumbled. The boy grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him back up into a standing position, much to Nico's embarrassment. He scowled and shrank away from the contact, assuming that the moment that the boy laid eyes on him he would recoil in disgust. He didn't expect any less from a camper. Most demigods could sense who he was just by being near him, and would stay far out of his reach. They simply found his presence uncomfortable, or they thought that he was freaky or scary. Stories had quickly spread through the camp about the loner son of Hades whose sister had died, the one who acted like he hated everybody. Nico could always tell when people were talking about him when he entered a room, or when they had stopped talking about him when he walked past them. He was so used to seeing people mime zombies or skeletons crawling out of the Earth to refer to him that he had learned to ignore it. He expected exactly the same from the boy who had just caught him.

But, much to Nico's surprise, his dark brown eyes lit up in recognition. He left one hand resting on his waist, like he didn't want Nico to get out of his sight. "You're that son of Hades!" he exclaimed. It was very different to hear those words being spoken in awe and excitement instead of fear and disgust, so Nico took a while to respond to him through his shock at the unusual greeting he had received.

"Um, yeah. That's me," he said, slowly pushing away the boy's hand from his waist. Nico really wasn't one for extended physical contact.

"Nico di Angelo, right?" he said with a smile, "You're the guy who sailed on the Argo with the Seven of the Great Prophecy. Everybody's been talking about you all week, but nobody thought that you would actually show up."

"Right," he said, looking away from the boy to take in the rest of his surroundings. He was in the middle of a crowd near the Big House. It looked like all the campers had congregated there to watch something, but he couldn't make out what. He was near the back of the crowd, and was too short to see what everybody was staring at in front of him. It seemed like it was something very exciting from the reactions of the campers in front of him, though. Looking to the Big House he saw that it was decorated in both the Greek and Roman colors, with flags strewn along the sides along with balloons and streamers decorating the porch. Hanging from the roof were piñatas in the shape of different monsters. There was one fashioned to look like Medusa with papier-mâché snake hair that looked like someone had busted it open already, along with caricature piñatas of the different giants that were in the Giant War. From what he could tell, it looked like the whole camp had been celebrating for a week straight.

"Um, what exactly is going on here?" asked Nico, temporarily forgetting about the reason he came there in the first place.

The boy raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "You seriously don't know?" he asked, his face taking on a smirk. Nico scowled again at the boy's expression. He had a stupid face, he decided. His hair was incredibly dark, and his complexion looked somewhat Mediterranean, only tanner. Nico could tell that he had striking bone structure with a strong jaw and a long nose, but it was obscured somewhat by his cheeks, which were soft and gave his face a much more youthful look. Just by looking at him Nico couldn't tell who his godly parent was, which only irked him even more. If he knew what kind of demigod he was then Nico would have more information to judge his character on, because as of right then he had absolutely nothing. The boy had already acted completely out-of-place from what Nico had expected, and apparently the boy knew a lot about Nico while Nico knew absolutely nothing about him. And that annoyed him a lot. He decided that the only possible god that the boy could be related to was the god of stupid faces. Nico couldn't remember the name, but he swore that god had to exist.

Nico rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest defensively, "If I knew what was going on, then why in Hades would I ask? Seriously, I don't know. I literally just came here to get my stuff and leave, I wasn't expected to be held up in some... weird, celebration thing," he said.

The boy raised his arms defensively, "Hey, sorry man, didn't mean to offend. It's just that it's been all over the country. Here, New Rome, and Olympus all have their own thing going on to celebrate the anniversary of the victory of the Giant War. Hell, even the mortals can sense the revelry. I didn't know that someone could not know what was going on."

So that was it, thought Nico. He pursed his lips as he looked through the crowd once more, now seeing that what they were looking at was a dramatic recreation of the events that happened during the quest of the Great Prophecy. A bunch of the younger campers were acting as the Seven Demigods as the prophecy, replaying the highlights and victories each one had on the quest. It was incredibly cheesy, with big costumes and dramatic makeup. Two pairs of demigods that both looked around ten or eleven rode piggy-back, growling and pretending they were the twin giants fighting two demigods pretending to be Percy and Jason. People cheered them on as they pretended to create a massive storm that knocked both of the "giants" out cold. Another demigod boy walked up with a stick in his hand. On the very tip of the stick was a pine cone that looked like it was haphazardly glued on. He gave a mighty battle cry and pretended to stab the two Giants that were cowering on the ground. The whole crowd erupted in cheers as the giants pretended to die, their tongues sticking out and their bodies splayed comically on the ground.

"Yeah, go Kyle!" yelled the boy to the younger demigod holding the stick. "My brother," he added with a smile.

Nico suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. It was just his luck that the very last time he planned to go to Camp Half-Blood they would be celebrating what was the suckiest part of his life. He remembered the very battle that they were acting out right then. Well, he barely remembered it, as he was still covering from being trapped in a jar at the time. Oxygen deprivation definitely did not help in creating clear memories. He realized that leaving the Camp was not going to be so easy once everybody noticed that he was there. They would ask him millions of questions about the Seven of the prophecy and the giants and the Argo II and, no, Nico definitely was not patient enough for that.

He turned away, knowing that he had to slip out now if he ever wanted peace or to get out of there without any trouble. He squeezed through the crowd, which wasn't that hard considering that most people shied away from him in the first place. Once he was finally free he started to walk hastily toward the cabins. He didn't stop even when he heard footsteps quickly approaching him, or heard his name being called. But when someone grabbed his shoulder roughly Nico spun around and unsheathed his knife, holding it defensively at his side.

It was only the boy he had bumped into, which he had assumed. He had only taken out his knife to intimidate him, but even that didn't seem to work. The boy gave a quick glance to the knife but paid no attention to it. "Where are you going?" he asked, "You can't leave now, that's kinda ridiculous. I know that every camper here would like to meet you, shake your hand. And you're just gonna ditch the whole place?"

"Yeah, that's the idea," he said, glaring at his hand on his shoulder, "Can you please? You're invading my personal space."

The boy reluctantly let go of his shoulder, frowning, "But, why? Why do you want to leave, you just got here."

Nico sighed. He was really getting sick of this boy, he just wished that he could get him off of his back, "I'm leaving because I only came here to grab a couple of things and go. And I'd also rather not see any familiar faces, it'll lead to awkward questions and good-byes and I just don't want that."

He turned to walk away once more, heading towards the Hades cabin. He heard the footsteps of the boy following him. "Are you talking about the Seven? 'Cause they aren't here. Not this week anyway, they're in New Rome."

"Even better," he deadpanned, not looking back. He approached the Cabin, painted black with torches decorating the outside. A green glow from the Greek Fire gave an eerie atmosphere to the cabin, like something that fit right in at the Underworld. He walked and looked around. He groaned to find the boy in the Cabin with him.

"Who even are you?" he demanded. He remembered Percy telling him about when Nico was younger and how he used to follow him like a shadow - if Nico was half as bad as this guy then he definitely felt bad for Percy. No wonder Percy never liked him back. How could anyone like an annoying kid that wouldn't leave you alone?

"I'm Daniel," he said, giving a small wave, "Son of Dionysus. It's just that I've heard a lot about you and I really think-"

"Son of Dionysus, huh?" Nico interrupted, "No wonder you're so annoying."

Surprisingly, Daniel took this assertion really well. He chuckled, his face lighting up in a big grin. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he said, then bit his lip bashfully. Nico found himself staring at him, but then shook himself out of it and turned away, walking towards the only bed in the Cabin. Next to the bed was a dark mahogany nightstand. He studied intently, trying to give Daniel the impression that he didn't want to talk, but he obviously wasn't getting the message. He grabbed the Hades figurine that was on the nightstand and tucked it into his jacket pocket. Opening the drawer of the nightstand, he found a deck of mythomagic cards along with a handful of golden drachmas. Upon the sight of deck of cards he immediately felt a pang in his chest at the memories of what felt like so long ago. He opened the cardboard container that held the deck and looked in. Sure enough, it was still there. It was a picture of him and Bianca taken in a photobooth from the Lotus Casino. It was just one of the five pictures that they took there, but he couldn't remember what happened to the rest. He stowed it back into the deck and put that in his other pocket, along with the handful of coins.

He then stood on the bed and reached for the shelf that was above the bed. He rubbed his hand along what looked like an empty shelf. Panic started to set in when all he felt was a thick coat of dust, but then he finally felt it. He grabbed the little plastic card, rubbing it on his black jeans to wipe off the dust that had accumulated on it. Cleaning it off allowed the vibrant red color to appear, with the big golden arches logo standing out proudly against the background. Nico would never dream of traveling without his McDonald's loyalty card.

Nico hopped off the bed and brushed off his hands. He had thought that he had left a couple other things in the cabin, but he supposed that he had already cleaned the majority out. He took another sweeping glance around to double-check. Seeing nothing, he then turned his attention to Daniel, who was still in the cabin. He had his hands in his hoodie pockets, staring at the floor boredly. Nico took a good look at the boy, actually taking in his features. Now that he knew who his godly parent was, Nico could definitely tell that he was a son of Dionysus. He looked like Mr. D, but a lot more youthful and handsome, and definitely not as cranky. His hair was so jet black that it almost looked purple, and his eyes were glassy, giving him the appearance that he wasn't entirely sober, even if he really was. He was almost a head taller than Nico, but that didn't make him all that tall considering how short Nico was.

Nico walked closer to him and crossed his arms over his chest. Daniel looked up from the floor and gave him a small smile and a nod of his head, like he was saying _Sup_?

"What do you want? Really?" he asked with an exasperated sigh.

"I just want you to stay for the campfire, at least. And then you can leave. I think if you leave now that would be a big mistake, I dunno, I just have this feeling in my gut. Like, if you stay you'd be able to understand how important you were for the Camp. I'm sure you know that already, but I don't think you really believe that, you know? Just, could you humor me on this?" He asked, and his brown eyes looked sincere. As much that he wanted to believe that Daniel was messing with him, the way that he continued to bite his lip made Nico think that as awkward as he felt, Daniel felt just as awkward. He, however, was probably a lot better at hiding it than Nico. If he didn't want to seem too moody he would have sighed, because he knew that he was going to cave even though he didn't want to give this annoying kid the satisfaction.

"You have a feeling in your gut, huh?" he said after what felt like an incredibly long awkward silence, "You're sure it's not just the wine?" A smile almost peeked out on Nico's face, just almost.

Daniel stopped biting his lip and gave a smile, snorting at Nico's stupid jab, "Yeah, whatever Corpse Boy. So you coming or what? It starts in like five minutes."

Nico scowled a little at the nickname. He knew he deserved it for the joke he made, but he could never stand it when people mocked him like that. He could tell that Daniel had simply said it as a joke, just as Nico had, but that still didn't get the bad taste of it out of his mouth. He tried to shake it off, looking back to Daniel, who was trying his best to give him a pleading puppy dog look.

Nico rolled his eyes, "Sure, whatever," he said, "I'll go."

Daniel pumped his fists in the air, triumphant. Nico couldn't help but smile at his antics. He knew that just staying for the campfire wouldn't hurt, especially since he knew that nobody he was close with were going to be there. The only reason he wanted to make it a short trip in the first place was to avoid any awkward goodbyes, and since that wasn't a problem anymore, he decided to give it a shot just for this last time.

"Drew's not going to believe this," he said with a smile on his face, and beckoned Nico to follow him as he walked out of the cabin. Nico was somewhat surprise when he exited the cabin to see just how dark it had gotten. He hadn't thought that they had been in the cabin for that long, but as he looked around he saw the group over by the Big House disperse and walk towards the campfire, laughing and joking with each other. The two boys both followed the crowd, and Daniel looked around the various people, looking like he was searching for someone. It was only when an exceptionally pretty Asian girl came into view that he stopped looking and called out to her.

The girl walked briskly over to him, and as she came into closer view Nico noticed that she looked exasperated with Daniel. She walked up to him with a scowl on her face and her arms crossed across her chest. Nico couldn't help but smile at this, thinking that he and this girl must have similar opinions on Daniel, and wondered if he had looked just like that only a couple minutes before.

"That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen, I can't believe that you ditched me," she grumbled, her attention firmly on scolding him that she had not even noticed Nico yet, which was perfectly okay with him.

Daniel rolled his eyes at her jokingly, "You seemed like you were doing perfectly fine without me. Last time I checked you were still gossiping with the rest of your cabin, so I didn't think it would be a big deal," he said, giving her a playful push to which she responded with a half-hearted kick to his legs.

"Besides," Daniel added, "I had more pressing matters to attend to. I had to escort this handsome gentleman to his cabin and convince him to join us at the campfire," he gestured to Nico, who shrunk under the burning gaze of the girl, whom Nico gathered was Drew. From her attitude to the perfectly applied makeup and designer clothes, Nico could tell that she was definitely a daughter of Aphrodite. Nico had not had good luck with daughters of Aphrodite, Piper notwithstanding, as they were the usual ones to find him incredibly creepy and distasteful. He didn't get his hopes up that this girl would be any different.

Drew narrowed her eyes at him, studying him intently and without any embarrassment. She furrowed her eyebrows and tightened her arms across her chest almost defensively, like she was trying to keep her vital organs protected. She huffed and looked back towards Daniel, glaring.

"I can't believe you ditched me for Living Dead Boy over here. You're such an asswipe sometimes, it's so typical you would leave me alone to fool around with some creepy kid." By this time they had made it to the campfire, and Nico was just about to call it quits and leave because of this girl. However, Daniel gave Nico a pleading look and, for some reason, Nico heeded it. He did give an effort to glare as much as he could at Drew, even though it didn't seem to have any effect on her.

"Manners, Drew, you're being the asswipe here. And we weren't fooling around, I was just helping him out," said Daniel, to which Nico snorted. "Helping out" definitely wasn't the way he would have chosen to word it, Nico would have gone along the lines of "annoyed relentlessly."

"Now apologize to Nico," Daniel scolded, but Nico raised a hand.

"No need, I get it all the time," he said. As more people filed into the campfire pavilion, more people were starting to take notice of him, and he didn't want to cause a scene. Besides, he didn't care about any opinion that this girl had, apology or not.

Drew gave a half-shrug and sat down, as though she didn't care one way or the other how things went. Daniel and Nico followed, and Nico sulked as he watched the rest of the campers file in. He didn't see many familiar faces, which he took as a blessing. After a while, he sensed Daniel's gaze from the corner of his eye. He turned to him, and Daniel gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Sorry about her. She's a bitch, but my best friend. She's getting better," he added a little half-heartedly, "Well, either that or I'm getting used to it." He gave Nico another one of his big smiles that Nico did not reciprocate, but he did secretly appreciate it.

"Why are you her friend?" asked Nico, not caring that she was right next to Daniel and easily in hearing distance.

"She puts up with me, I put up with her. It's kind of a mutually beneficial thing. We're obviously not the most popular kids at the camp, if you couldn't tell. So we keep each other company and be assholes to each other and it basically all works out in the end, I guess. And she's not afraid of me, so that's a plus," he said.

Nico raised his eyebrows, "Are you trying to say that people are afraid of you?" he asked. His face was perfectly blank, but in his mind he was laughing. This kid was probably the least scary thing he had ever seen, and you could trust him on that. Nico knew scary, he practically lived it. He couldn't believe anybody would be able to be afraid of this dork.

Daniel's face turned stoic and he shrugged, "People at this camp are weird," was all he said. Nico nodded, he definitely agreed with that.

Around that time was when Chiron arrived, full centaur. He and the Apollo cabin led the sing along as people passed marshmallows around to roast. The fire was roaring and glowing bright vibrant colors from electric blue to fuschia. The fire always blazed in response to the energy and mood of the campers, and tonight it was going crazy. All of the campers were obviously still in high spirits from the festivities, and Nico idly watched as they all sang their songs and ate their marshmallows, occasionally smearing the sticky food into each others faces and laughing. Even Daniel and Drew, who had just been sulking, were singing along in loud, obnoxious voices. Nico even noticed Daniel sneaking a flask out of his inside jacket pocket and passing it down the line of campers with a mischievous glint in his eye. If he wasn't looking so closely he wouldn't have noticed it, and he was pretty impressed with his confidence and how he did it right under Chiron's nose. He was a son of Dionysus, though, so it made perfect sense.

The chaos soon started to die down as they ran out of sing-a-longs to sing. The conversation soon moved to the object of the weeks festivities, the Giant War. Stories were shared and rumors were spread, and more and more people became aware of his presence. People took turns staring at him for a couple of seconds, then whispering to their friends and gesticulating towards him. He heard his name murmured a couple of times as people became more and more restless of the second-hand tales of the Quest. They obviously were looking for a first hand account. He watched as people nudged each other as they dared each other to ask him questions, but nobody spoke up. He heard the phrase "Athena Parthenos" over and over, but still no one said anything to him, which he was perfectly fine with.

He looked around at all the campers in amusement. He found it somewhat funny that they were all so intimidated by him, it was actually a bit of an ego boost. He kept looking around until his eyes stopped on a wild mane of red hair. Rachel Elizabeth Dare stared intensely back at him, her mouth upturned slightly and eyes shining with amusement. She was right in the middle of the crowd of campers, with everybody in full view of her. Her expression gave him the chills, it was as though she knew something that everyone didn't - which was probably exactly the case.

Suddenly, as if a persuasive gust of wind blew through the crowd, the campers started to whisper to each other about the prophecy. The Great Prophecy of Seven, as they were beginning to call it, and what exactly Nico's role was in it. Chiron tracked the conversation as it passed from person to person with amused delight in his eye.

"That is a great question, guys," he responded to the whispers, "It's a good thing then, that we have an Oracle to consult with us these very things, yes?" He gave Rachel a knowing smile.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare rose in her seat with a sly smile on her face, "Well," she said, "I'm not one to give advice on what I predict, but I can certainly recite the last prophecy for use."

She stared into space, as though she would be reciting a poem to the willing audience. Just as she took her first deep breath to speak, she caught it and gasped, her eyes changing to a vibrant glowing green. The fire flickered and died down to a dull purple, shadowing each camper's face in an eerie atmosphere like something out of a nightmare. Green smoke billowed around everyone and swirled around Rachel Elizabeth Dare, illuminating her vibrant red hair into a surreal corona around her head. She opened her mouth and green fog escaped from it as well.

She spoke: "_The sorceress instigator and Monster's Mother plan their revenge_

_On half-blood, mortal, and god alike, lest they be avenged_

_By the chosen three, demigods of great power and great need_

_To prove themselves and with reasons to be redeemed_

_Charmspeaker, Madness wielder, and Ghost King_

_Together to stop the forces of evil on All Hallows Eve_

_Lest the world succumb to chaos and darkness once more_

_Deep into Tartarus, the foes the Chosen ones must store._"

Immediately after she concluded, the green mist faded and Rachel collapsed back into her chair. The fire roared back up as it once was before, and campers exchanged nervous glances to each other, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

* * *

A/N: Hello readers, a couple notes about this story:

This is my NaNoWriMo novel for 2013, and at the current time of posting this I have 25,000 words already written. So not only will there be regular updates, it's gonna be a pretty long story. Regular updates = yay! Long story? Might be good or bad depending on who you are.

This fic is rated teen, and while there will be nothing too graphic, it is definitely intended for a different age group than the original age group Riordan markets his books to. I just feel that there is a whole lot more fun stuff to explore in the universe when you aren't constrained by marketing a story to younger kids. Especially when it comes to Dionysus, I think Riordan was definitely forced to downplay him in the book because of young readers when in the myths he is _CRAZY._

Nico's love interest will be the OC, Daniel. I know what you're thinking, OC's are gross and Mary-Sues and Enobie Dark'ness Dementia Raven Ways, but I really hope you give him a chance. He's kinda my baby and I really wanted to experiment with a demigod of Dionysus. Because, like I was saying, Dionysus is _CRAZY._

And you're also probably wondered, why Drew? Well, I wanted a character from the original series that Nico hadn't had much interaction with. And I feel like after the Giant War Drew has a lot of potential for character development. But don't worry guys, she's still a bitch. I just want to make her a more likable bitch :)

Reviews and whatnot will be very nice, as well as suggestions on a posting schedule. Would you like updates once a week? Once a month? Once a day? Opinions are great! You are great! If you've read this far I already love you :)


	2. The Ping-Pong Table Returns

Nico felt a heavy pit in his stomach. No, this was not what he wanted at all. All Nico wanted to do was get in and get out - no need for conversation or goodbyes. Now he was strung up in the middle of this new prophecy that everyone was hearing. The reason why he wanted to try it on his own was so he could leave all this drama aside. As his mind repeated back to him what he had heard, an overwhelming sense of dread overcame him. "The Ghost King" was what Rachel Elizabeth Dare had said, and he knew it was no coincidence. One of the people of the prophecy was to be him. He went into immediate denial, refusing to acknowledge that it was actually him they were talking about. He wasn't a hero, he was an outcast. He tried to sink into the shadows, unseen, but there were too many eyes on him. All the campers had followed the Oracles eyes towards him, and now he could not escape.

He looked over to Daniel to see what his reaction was, but he had a similar look on his face to the one Nico had assumed was on his. He bit his lip and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. Drew didn't look any better.

Chiron's voice rang out through the dense silence. "Well, it looks like our Oracle has predicted another Prophecy." Immediately, the campers turned to each other and talked excitedly amongst themselves, trying to discern the meaning. Dozens of voices rang out one after another.

"The Charmspeaker _has_ to be Piper!" said a daughter of Aphrodite.

"But she was already part of another Prophecy," countered another.

"Percy was involved in more than one Prophecy," someone else pointed out.

"I don't think Piper is the one the Prophecy is referring to," said Chiron solemnly, "Piper has duties elsewhere right now."

"The only other Charmspeaker is Drew..." someone said, then trailed off. Every face turned towards her, and for the first time since Nico had first met Piper, a child of Aphrodite shied away from the limelight. She shrunk into herself, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them close. The firelight illuminated her glitter eyeshadow, and her whole face sparkled in the warm light. Nico never would have thought he'd ever find Drew beautiful. She was the one that had tormented Piper and was a huge bully to her. She was not someone he thought he would ever find attractive, child or Aphrodite or not. But as the light shone across her face as she hid behind her knees, there was a beautiful kind of vulnerability about her. He had to admit she looked a lot better when her nose wasn't in air and her expression devoid of a scowl.

"It shouldn't be me," she said, her voice as small as a mouse. Everybody's eye widened as they stared at her as if she were an alien from outer space.

"That's not what you said when Jason and Piper went on their first quest," another daughter of Aphrodite said, "You were practically falling all over yourself to be on a quest with Jason," she accused her.

"This is different," she said, glaring at her cabinmate.

"Because there's no hot guy to follow around," a camper with a guitar, possibly Apollo's kid, joked. He spoke under his breath to his other cabinmates, but he was still clearly heard by the crowd. A couple of people laughed, but Nico felt a burning pit in his stomach at the comment. He couldn't stand it when people made fun of others.

Drew lifted her head and glared daggers at the boy, "I didn't know what their quest would lead up to. I didn't know the dangers of a quest then, but I do now. I'm not going on the quest."

The campers talked among themselves once again in response to her words. "She also didn't know that her only quest would be with those two," said an older camper, referring to Nico and Daniel sitting next to her. Nico remembered the camper from the short time he had stayed at Camp Half-Blood, and he remembered that he was a son of Hermes. Nico was also not impressed with his tone, and what he was trying to imply through his words.

As the camper saw that more people had begun to listen to him, he continued, "Well the Ghost King is obviously Nico di Angelo. I remember him being called that back in the Titan War, during the Battle of the Labyrinth. And we _all_ know who the 'Madness Wielder' is," he said, and Daniel shifted in his seat sheepishly.

"Well, I think that's enough talk of Prophecy tonight," Chiron intervened, obviously not pleased with the way the conversation had turned so sour, "We will discuss the Prophecy and those it concerns tomorrow in a Counselor meeting after breakfast, and we will begin the planning towards a new quest, too. All heads of Cabin _must attend_," he said, then paused and looked over at all the campers, ending on Nico, "Including you, Nico di Angelo."

Nico groaned and laid his head in his hands. It was so typical that everything turned to shit the second he returned to camp. All he wanted to do was get in then get out, and of course he had to get roped up in a new prophecy. Hades, Rachel basically referred to him by name! "The Ghost King" was, sadly, practically the only nickname he ever had in his life - not counting when Bianca used to affectionately call him a twerp.

Chiron then dismissed the campers to their cabins and they all stood up in a flurry of activity. Campers practically ran back to their bunks so they could discuss with their bunkmates all that happened that night, and what they believed the Prophecy actually meant. Nico, however, had no one to walk with. Drew had already scurried off to beat everybody else to the cabin, probably to be alone. He stood up with a sigh just as Daniel stood up beside him. Daniel gave Nico an uneasy smile, the vibrancy he had displayed earlier lost. He bit his lip and nodded at him, before turning away and walking to his cabin, his back hunched over and his hands buried deep in his pockets.

"I'm sorry, Nico," he heard a voice say behind him. He turned, surprised. He had thought that he was the last left, but there was Rachel standing with her arms across her chest and looking sheepish. "I know how you feel, like how you're kinda an outsider and that quests aren't really your thing..." She played with the ends of her hair, nervously picking off split ends and avoiding his gaze, "I think this will be good for you, though."

And with those mysterious words, she walked away. As much as he could tell that Rachel was trying to comfort him somehow, it was more annoying than it was helpful. He felt done with cryptic words and saving the world - all he had planned for the rest of his teenage life was to travel around and be by himself. But obviously, the Fates thought differently. He started to walk towards his cabin.

As he emerged into his cabin he frowned at his bed. He never slept well when he was at Camp, and he doubted he would even be able to sleep at all that night. Still, he took off his shoes and hopped into bed, jacket and all. He laid over the blankets and looked up to the ceiling, watching the shadows dance along it glowing different shades of green caused by the lit torches on the walls. The green light reminded him of Rachel reciting the prophecy, which only made him feel worse. Oddly enough, he totally related with Drew on his feelings towards a quest. He didn't want to do it at all. He could tell that Daniel felt the same way as well, but Drew was the only one with enough guts to say how she truly felt. It was really courageous of her to speak her mind, he thought, especially since so many campers would kill to go on a quest. It took a pretty strong person to go against what everybody else felt, and Nico had to give Drew props for that, no matter how awful she was.

Thinking about Drew led to his thoughts wandering back to the Prophecy. Nico found it interesting how the prophecy had not mentioned names whatsoever, but every camper knew immediately who it referred to. Drew and Nico were the two obvious ones. For Drew, she and Piper were the only two Half-Bloods that had to ability to Charmspeak. And since Piper was off with Jason trying to fully unite the two camps, that eliminated her as a candidate for the prophecy. So everybody knew that Drew was the one. For Nico, the Ghost King had become his title in the Underworld, so his part in the prophecy was readily apparent to him. He didn't realize that the campers knew of that name, though, which was a bit of a surprise. But even if they did not know the story behind the name, it was easy to assume that the Prophecy was talking about Nico. He was the only son of the Underworld, after all, and even if it wasn't already gender specific Hazel's powers weren't over the realm of the dead.

Then there was Daniel. Nico knew that Dionysus was the god of madness and ecstasy, but Daniel wasn't the only kid in the Dionysus cabin. He had even pointed out his brother to Nico earlier in the day. He wondered how everyone was so sure that Daniel was the one the Prophecy referred to as "the Madness Wielder." He assumed that there must be some story that everybody else knew but him, and he wondered what it could be. Judging by the reactions from some of the campers, it probably wasn't very good.

All he knew for sure was that he was already sick of hearing about this new Prophecy and that he just wanted to run away. He very much could do that now - he had done it before - but he knew he would never be able to face himself again. He would be much too guilty to ever show his face to another half-blood again. He was already the freaky son of Hades, he didn't want people to see him as a coward in addition to that. No, he'd have to fully face his fate head on. He couldn't run away this time, but he could try to put it off for a little while. He decided to try to sleep, it would be the only way he would be able to stop thinking about it until the morning.

* * *

Breakfast was a little awkward for Nico, but most of the campers got used to his presence pretty quickly, which was a relief. Nico sat alone at the Hades table, and on his plate manifested McDonald's pancakes and hash browns, along with an Egg McMuffin. He sacrificed half of his hash browns to his father, although Hades was always complaining about Nico's eating habits and dedication to the restaurant. He was just going to have to deal, thought Nico, it wasn't like he was getting a bunch of offerings anyway.

Nico sipped on his orange juice as he stared at the rest of the tables, specifically watching how Drew and Daniel were faring. They were interacting with the rest of their table normally, but Nico could tell by their eyes that the Prophecy was weighing on them. He was pretty sure that they were all dreading the oncoming meeting about it.

It was unfortunate then, that the meeting was so close. Immediately after everybody had finished their breakfast, the Heads of Cabin filed to the Big House while the rest of the campers ran off to do their activities, their heads and consciences clear. Nico found himself at the end of the pack, side by side with Daniel and Drew.

He nodded at them, "You guys are heads?" he asked them.

Daniel nodded, "I'm the oldest of the Dionysus Cabin."

"And I'm the backup for when Piper's not here," said Drew.

They filed into the Big House's rec room, each sitting on a fold-out chair around the Ping-Pong table. On top of the table was an array of snack foods, which most people were heartily diving into. Nico didn't have much of an appetite anymore, though, so he let them be. He looked around the room, and felt surprised when he saw that Mr. D was sitting at the table as well. Nico had assumed that Mr. D was at Olympus, but that was simply because he didn't see him last night. Maybe he was called back because one of his children might be part of a Prophecy? Nico wasn't sure, especially since nobody else's godly parent had ever came to Camp when their child became involved in a quest. He looked over to Daniel to see his reaction, and found it interesting to see that he was actively trying to avoid his father's gaze.

Chiron came into the room at last, rolling in his wheelchair with a blanket over his legs. As he took his place at the end of the table everybody fell silent and stared over to him.

Connor Stoll, surprisingly, was the first person to speak up and break the tension building up in the room. "It might just be me, but I have a feeling that the ping-pong table is getting a little too small for these council meetings."

Everybody chuckled at that. The last time a council was held in the rec room, the only cabins at the camp were for the big twelve. Now that there were many other cabins for minor gods and Cabin leaders to go with them as well as a living Oracle, the ping-pong table was definitely starting to feel crowded. Nico was smushed in between Clarisse and Drew, which definitely wasn't a very pleasant place to find himself in.

Now that everybody was feeling more comfortable with each other, Clarisse spoke up. "We already know who the three of the Prophecy are," she said, "I say we just give them supplies and send them on their merry ways."

Nico nodded, he didn't want this to be made into a big deal. And generally, Clarisse had good ideas when it came to strategy. She also respected Nico a lot more than other people had, which put her in his good books.

"But we don't even know what we're supposed to do," said Drew, "Not to mention the fact that I am _not_ going on the quest. _So we obviously need to reevaluate_."

Everybody nodded along with her, talking about how Drew had the right idea. Nico even found himself changing his opinion. Drew was right, he thought, she wasn't meant to go on this quest. They had to think of a different plan.

Dionysus groaned from his chair, rolling his eyes at the child of Aphrodite, "You've got to be kidding me, right?" he asked. Everybody looked up at him in confusion.

"You guys see what Dana's doing? She's charmspeaking you to get out of the quest. Which is incredibly daft of her, considering the quest specifically calls for a Charmspeaker," said Dionysus with a flippant tone, grabbing a handful of chips and snacking on them.

The Stoll brothers gave each other a knowing look and started to laugh heartily, "Oh, that's rich," said Travis, wiping an imaginary tear from his cheek.

"She doesn't even know what she's doing," said Connor.

"No idea," Travis agreed. At the confused looks the Cabin Leaders gave them, they took a couple of seconds to catch their breath and face the group.

"What Beauty Queen over here just did basically proved her rightful place in the Prophecy," said Connor, giggling.

"The Prophecy basically spoke of a Charmspeaker, and now she demonstrates in front of everybody her abilities that make her a perfect fit for the quest!" exclaimed Travis, pounding on the ping-pong table, shaking the food and spilling a couple of drinks in the process.

"Now that's irony," said Connor, and the brothers erupted into giggles once more.

Nico looked to Chiron, who was watching the scene with amusement in his eyes. He turned to Drew, "It looks like you are definitely a part of the quest," he said, "Whether you like it or not."

Before Drew could speak once more, Mr. D intervened and spoke up once more, "Great! Now that's settled, the other two questers will be that Nicky boy and my son, Daniel."

Daniel sunk lower in his chair, but nodded, nervously biting his lip. Nico noticed two things from this exchange - first, that Dionysus referred to his son with the correct name, and second, that Daniel had a really bad nervous habit of biting his lips. He found both of these facts somewhat amusing, and he couldn't help but give a small smile at the thought of it.

"See! Nicky's happy to be on the quest. You two better cheer up soon, because there's no backing out now!" he gave a hearty laugh that could definitely be taken as a little maniacal and took a dainty sip of Diet Coke, leaning back in his seat as though he had settled the matter.

"Are all Cabin Leaders in agreement with who will be going on the quest?" asked Chiron, and everybody agreed. That is, everybody but the three that were supposed to go on the quest.

"Good," he said, "That simply leaves us with the question of what the quest will entail."

"Does it have anything to do with the increase of Monster attacks on mortals and demigods?" asked Jake Mason, who Nico assumed was filling in for Leo Valdez.

Chiron nodded solemnly, "I do believe that is what the Prophecy if referring to. Namely, the cause behind these attacks. I think the questers will have to stop the monsters by stopping the source of their power. Perhaps the 'Sorceress Instigator' and 'Monsters' Mother.'"

"Wait, hold up," said Nico, leaning forward in interest, "Since when are monsters attacking mortals now? Being son of the Lord of the Underworld, I do think that I would know if mortals were coming to the underworld because of monster attacks." Frankly, Nico felt a little hurt to find himself left out on such crucial information, especially if he would most likely be the first to know if such a thing was occurring.

"The Olympians have tried to hush it up," said Daniel, "Typical, right? Your dad was probably hiding it from you the whole time."

"They simply don't want anyone to panic," said Chiron.

Daniel rolled his eyes, "More like Zeus doesn't want anyone to think he's a bad leader, so he won't let anyone fix the problem."

A deep rumble of angry thunder shook the room, but Daniel simply waved his hand like it was simply an annoying little kid trying to get his attention, "Yeah, yeah," he said.

Nico raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "You're gonna get struck by lightning if you keep that up," he said.

Daniel smirked and shrugged, "Like my grandpa's going to do anything to me."

Clarisse laughed at Daniel's comment along with the others, then tried to turn their attention back to the prophecy, "Well, it seems like you three will have to find the source behind the attacks and stop it. The Prophecy said something about a sorceress, right?" she looked to Rachel for approval, who nodded, which led Clarisse to continue, "Well, if a sorceress is making it possible for monsters to attack mortals, then she's obviously using magic to make it happen. And magic is traceable, so you could trace it back to the source and stop her. Well, it sounds like you have to stop her _and_ Grendel's mom as well."

Nico nodded, "I know someone who can help with that, too," he said, "They're in Brooklyn, so that can be the first stop on our quest."

"And we have until Halloween to do this, for some reason," Drew said, finally speaking back up, "So we have a destination and a deadline, which is good enough information to start a quest." She didn't look entirely too happy about that fact.

"Well, Halloween has always been a night where dark magic has been especially powerful. Maybe that has something to with it," said Nico, "We would need to stop the two women before nightfall on Halloween if they're planning something nasty to happen that night."

"Well, it looks like that is settled, then," said Chiron, a sad smile on his face, "We have a quest. Nico, Daniel, and Drew will first venture to Brooklyn to find the source of magic that is allowing monsters to attack mortals, and they will defeat the source of the magic by the night of Halloween. You guys can have a couple of days to say your goodbyes and pack your things. We will give you some supplies, and you will be on your way."

The three questmates nodded solemnly as they all digested the plan. "Well, I guess I'm ready," said Daniel, breaking the tense silence, "What do we have to lose? Our lives? We got those for free anyway."

Dionysus gave a hearty laugh and lifted his soda can towards his son, "I'll drink to that," he said.

* * *

Nico walked out to the porch of the Big House with Drew and the rest of the Cabin Leaders. He stopped to look for Daniel, but couldn't find him anywhere. He looked over at Drew, who shrugged. Without even having to discuss it with each other, they walked back into the Big House to look for him. The second that they walked through the front door, they saw Daniel and Mr. D talking in the hallway. Mr. D had a solemn expression on his face, and Daniel was staring at his feet, nodding intermittently.

Drew grabbed Nico's sleeve and pulled him back through the door, "I think they want privacy," she said. Nico nodded, then followed her out to the porch. They sat on a rickety porch swing to the right of the door and waited in awkward silence for their fellow questmate.

After about a minute, Daniel walked out of the house. He looked surprised to see that they had waited for him, but he gave them a small smile. They stood up from the porch swing to face him.

"What was that about?" Drew asked, "You and your dad in the hallway."

Daniel shrugged, "Nothing, really. He was just lecturing me on learning to control my powers and stuff. To not be afraid of them."

They started to walk away from the Big House, to where Nico was not sure, but he followed anyway. He was curious about what kind of powers Daniel was talking about, and why he would be afraid of them. He decided not to pry, though. Nico knew what it was like to have scary powers, and how hard it was to accept them as a part of yourself.

"Well, he's right," said Drew, "You shouldn't be afraid of them. It's like me with my charmspeak. You just have to do it a lot, and then you'll be able to control it."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Like it's that easy. Unlike you, my powers could actually hurt someone. It really isn't as simple as you're making it out to be. I can't just practice on someone willy-nilly."

Drew huffed, "My powers could _totally_ hurt someone," she said, offended by the very thought that she couldn't be found dangerous. "Nico, trip Daniel," she said forcefully.

Nico immediately stuck out his foot in front of Daniel, who predictably stumbled over it. He grabbed Nico's shoulder to steady himself, then glared daggers at Drew.

"Fine, you proved your point," he said to her.

Nico and Drew gave each other sidelong looks, then started to laugh uncontrollably. "I didn't even charmspeak him," she said with a giggle, "I would never use my charmspeak to harm someone."

Daniel gave a giant groan, "Then you're just proving my point. My powers are meant to harm people. And you!" he pointed to Nico, who was still chuckling, "If she didn't charmspeak you then why did you trip me?"

Nico shrugged, "Cuz I wanted to. And I thought it would be funny," he said.

Daniel couldn't help but break a smile at that, "I didn't realize you had a sense of humor," he said, studying Nico's face intently.

Nico turned his head, feeling a little uncomfortable under his gaze, "I can understand why you would think that, ghosts aren't known for their appreciation of jokes."

Drew had walked them all to the lake. Nico looked over it, seeing campers taking canoe lessons and swimming happily. A couple of giggling naiads had overturned a canoe filled with campers, and the kids held on the sides of the canoe as they laughed and tread water. The three questmates walked over to the dock and sat down on the edge, legs swinging just above the water.

Drew crossed her arms and huffed, "I don't even want to do this stupid quest. This is so ridiculous."

Nico rolled his eyes, "Well, that's what happens when you're a Half-Blood, so you better get used to it."

"You don't understand," she said, "I'm a child of Aphrodite. The only cabin that go on less quests than us is the Demeter cabin. We're not cut out for fighting, and I've learned to accept that. Maybe it's not a big deal if you get killed cuz then you'll scamper on right back home to the Underworld, but I, personally, do not want to die."

Nico scowled, "Has anyone ever told you that you have an attitude problem?" he said.

"I don't have an attitude problem. You have a problem with my attitude, and that's not my problem," she said haughtily, turning away from him.

Daniel snorted, "You'll get used to it, trust me," he said, "Well, you're going to have to, since we'll probably have to share some cross-country soul-searching journey, just the three of us."

Nico groaned, "That sounds absolutely fantastic."

* * *

A/N: Exposition, yay! Unfortunately, chapters filled with information and not much action are necessary sometimes. Future action-filled chapters will definitely make up for this one, though, trust me. (I wonder who is in Brooklyn that can help Nico on his quest? Hmmm...)

A bajillion thanks to Sam, Narufan1st, and mysterious anonymous guest for posting reviews :) You guys are the best and you make me so happy a twear comes to my eye I swear. And I'm sorry Guest, but I really doubt I will be able to post once a day. Your enthusiasm for the story does make me really happy, though! I will try to post at least once a week, and if I forget a week then you can punish me. Deal?

Reviews and whatnot would be the beeesssttt


	3. The Boys Discuss Mythomagic Tactics

They spent the rest of the week training, trying to gather as much information about the monster attacks, and attempting to get to know each other better. The last thing had turned out to be the hardest for Nico. He wasn't a very social person to begin with, so that immediately made it a little harder to get close to them. Drew didn't want a single thing to do with Nico, which was not helpful at all. Every time he tried to talk to her or reach out for her, she'd simply roll her eyes and walk away from him, saying that she needed to train or pack. Daniel, however, was the complete opposite. He was incredibly happy to talk to Nico and be around him, the only problem was when the conversation turned too deep or anywhere near the quest, he'd freeze up or change the subject.

The day before they were scheduled to leave, Nico was sitting cross-legged on his bed, with his Mythomagic cards all around as he studied them. He had long tired of the odd looks he received when he tried to venture out to where the other campers did their activities. For the past couple days was cooped up in his cabin, only coming out for meals and the occasional campfire. He heard a knocking on his cabin door, and he grunted an affirmative response. The door opened, and Daniel poked his head in.

"Hey, Nico, I was just wondering - is, is that Mythomagic?" he said, his ADHD getting the better of him.

Nico nodded, somewhat surprised that Daniel knew what that was, "Yeah, actually. It's my old deck from forever ago."

Daniel walked over to his bed and sat down on it, not bothering to ask permission. He sat right next to him so as not to move any of the cards that were carefully set up on the bed. They both sat cross-legged, their knees touching just slightly as they studied the cards Nico had acquired.

"I see you're not one for an elemental-type deck," said Daniel, looking over his deck, "That's how mine is, at least. Left my deck at home in Costa Rica, though, I didn't think that many people still played it. I see you heavily favor a repertoire of living dead and necromancy-powered cards. That's pretty ballsy."

"Well, I know how to use them effectively. Elemental packs are for the mediocre, no offense. The right combination from my deck will completely obliterate whatever you have in your deck, I'm kind of a pro at Mythomagic," said Nico, flippantly. He had not played in a while, not having many people to play with, but he had never really grew out of the game. It was what Nico had always expected how being a Half-Blood would be, full of battles and predictable strategies and successful combinations. That's why he had kept his deck, he thought, it was kind of how he wished his life had turned out.

"You're from Costa Rica?" asked Nico, changing the subject as he gathered up his deck from the bed. Taking another look at him, Nico could definitely see the resemblance to some other Costa Ricans he had seen. His skin was a beautiful golden-brown color, the type that Nico had always envied. Though he had a rather olive complexion, spending so much time in the Underworld had given him a permanent pale pallor to his skin that he always disliked. Daniel's black hair was curly and wild, like grape vines twisting and turning into each other, coiling and uncoiling. His nose and cheeks had a splash of freckles, and his eyes were the type of warm brown that evoked a sense of trust in another.

Daniel nodded, "Yeah, that's where I was born. My mom told me the censored story, but basically how it went down was that Dionysus went spring-breaking to Tamarindo and basically tore the whole place up. They met at a night-club and then snuck off to the beach where they started their sordid affair. And then I happened, so I guess that's a pretty happy ending."

"Did your mom knew who he was?" he asked.

He shook his head, "He came back a couple of months after I was born and told her about it. The thing about Dionysus' kids, they aren't that powerful usually. So most of the time camp is more of a suggestion for us than it is a rule. But Dad always insisted that I go, despite the distance. I never really knew why. Well, up until last year, at least."

Nico tucked his deck back into his jacket pocket. Daniel had his head resting against the wall, staring at Nico and biting his lip. "What happened last year?" asked Nico, feeling somewhat honored that Daniel had finally opened up to him.

Daniel sighed, "Well, I..." he started, then changed gears, "Stop looking at me like that," he said.

Nico raised his eyebrows, "Like what?" he asked.

"Like so intently. I get that I'm sharing my big secret with you but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to blink," he said, laughing nervously.

Nico blinked, he hadn't realized that he had been staring like that. He supposed that he wasn't all that good at looking like he was sympathetic when he was listening to someone. Hazel had also pointed out similar things about him. He supposed that was what happened when you spent the majority of your time with dead people. It also didn't help that Nico had been feeling incredibly nosy the whole week about what role Daniel might have in the prophecy, and he had the feeling he was about to get to hear the answer.

"Well, I go here all year round now, right? But last year my mom, dad, and Chiron thought it would be a good idea for me to try to go to school. So they enrolled me into this fancy boarding school in the city for the year. And it was a pretty nice school overall, it was just hard. I did okay at best. I don't have dyslexia like a lot of other campers, but my ADHD gets really bad in a school setting. And there was this one teacher, my English teacher, who just couldn't stand me. He said I was a slacker and that I never tried, which was kinda frustrating. And it was kinda awkward, cuz it was like a school for the very rich so most of the kids were rich and the majority were white. So I'm like this poor Costa Rican kid with ADHD and completely out-of-place. But everybody was nice enough, you know, except that one teacher."

He shifted his weight on the bed so that his whole back was resting against the wall, "It really got bad when I started dating his favorite student. He thought that he was lowering his standards to be with me or that I was being a bad influence on him or whatever. All I really know is that every single day he'd make me feel like shit and verbally abuse me. I didn't even realize I was doing it at first, it was just a gradual thing that no one really noticed. But then one day he said some really bad things and I snapped and told him to go to Hades, and like this wave of fury overcame me. He made me go to the principal's office, but everyone in my class told me that after I left he was acting really weird. He didn't know where he was and he was babbling and basically scaring the shit out of the students. He came back the next day and apologized for what happened to him, saying that he didn't know what came over him. But you could tell that he was unhinged, and every day he got worse and worse. And I knew that it was me who was doing it, but I didn't do anything to stop it. I even encouraged it, like when he would be an asshole to me anger would just overcome me and I would feel this tug in the pit of my stomach, and I could feel myself influencing him. I was basically tearing up his mind from the inside out. And it just got worse and worse everyday until he forgot who he was and had to be admitted into a mental hospital."

He sighed and brought his knees up to his chest. He was wearing basketball shorts, and that's when Nico noticed that he was barefoot, which he thought was kind of weird but didn't bring the fact up.

There was a long period of silence while they both thought about the story he had just told. It wasn't an awkward silence, Nico noticed, it was actually a really comfortable type of silence where they could feel comfortable simply just thinking next to each other.

"I got expelled," he said simply after the long pause. "A lot of the kids were really upset at what happened to him. And even though they didn't really know what was happening, they could totally sense that it was because of me. So a lot of them made up a story to explain how I did it. And then everyone pitched in and it was actually pretty easy for me to get kicked out. And then the summer right after that during Camp I really wanted to keep it a secret. The only people I told were Drew and my boyfriend at the time. Of course Chiron and my dad knew, but they understood that it was better to keep it quiet. But then my boyfriend and I went through a bad break-up and he basically told the whole camp." He shrugged nonchalantly, "So basically the everyone is kind of scared of me, now. I guess that's what I get for dating a Hermes kid. They're assholes, they're always looking for revenge."

Nico gave a low whistle and raised his eyebrows appreciatively. Most Half-Bloods had some sort of sob story, and Nico had some sick sense of pride in how horrible his own was. He also couldn't help but also have a sick sense of appreciation of how dark Daniel's story was. He had always had a mental image of what he imagined a kid of Dionysus to be like - lazy and vapid, mostly - but he had never considered that a child of Dionysus would inherit any of his darker powers, and how exactly they would try to manage it.

"That's really shitty, man," he said, "I can't even begin to imagine how you cope with that." That was basically the extent of sympathy that Nico could muster up.

Daniel laughed and punched him softly in the shoulder, "How do you think? I drink, dumbass."

Nico raised his eyebrows, then started to laugh at himself for his idiocy and how obvious that was. It was interesting, he thought, he had never expected to laugh more while he was at Camp Half-Blood, the place that marked the beginning of the darkest years of his life. But here he was, sitting on his bed with a boy and simply laughing their asses off.

Shit. He was sitting on his bed with a boy. His laughter died down as he felt warmth spread across his cheeks at what he had just realized. He looked at his bedspread until he felt the heat in his cheeks die down, then looked back at him.

"Why did you come here, anyway? I'm pretty sure you didn't intend to come to my cabin to discuss Mythomagic strategies and confess your soul to me," he said.

Daniel smiled, "True. I was actually going to ask if you wanted to spar. I haven't been doing anything all day and I wanted to get some exercise. I promise that I won't make you go mad just to try to beat you, contrary to popular belief."

"Do people actually think you'll do that?"

He nodded, "Yeah, that's why I'm such a shitty sword-fighter. Nobody wants to practice with me, ever. Only the older kids in my cabin will, and gods know that Drew is not a fighter at all."

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to kick your ass, then," said Nico, "If you want to get better, you have to get your ass kicked a lot. Trust me, that's how I learned. And I promise I'll be a better teacher than my sword-fighting teachers."

Daniel got up from the bed, his bare feet padding along the cabin floor, "Who were?"

"My dad and the armies of the undead."

Daniel winced, "And I thought I had it bad."

* * *

Daniel and Nico had ended up sparring until it got dark. Daniel really was bad at sword fighting, which somewhat concerned Nico. It was starting to look like Nico would be pulling most of the weight when it came to fighting. So Nico really tried to help Daniel learn the ropes, even if it was pretty physically exhausting to the both of them. They finally had to stop when it was getting too dark for them to see each other, which was just as well, since Daniel was starting to get on Nico's nerves. There was only so much that he could take of that boy. He was seriously starting to get concerned about the fact that they would have to be seeing each other 24/7 on this quest.

After they sparred, Daniel went to dinner and Nico went back to his cabin. After dinner at the campfire they were to have a bit of a celebration for the questers before they were to depart. Nico, however, got the feeling that he was not quite welcomed there. It was an attitude that was unspoken but one that Nico definitely felt that many of the campers had towards him, like when he would go to the training area or the lake many people would clear the area and leave him alone. He had the feeling that people would have more fun if he didn't show up. Besides, he needed his beauty rest if he were to be expected to start off his quest tomorrow. And, well, he may have had another reason why he wanted to look good for this first part of the quest. He would never admit it to anybody else, but there was someone in Brooklyn that he couldn't help but want to please.

The second that his head hit the pillow he was dead asleep. He didn't think that he was that tired, but as his eyes closed, heavy like lead. He supposed that sparring with Daniel had exhausted him more than he thought. A murky picture of the son of Dionysus' face was the last thing he thought of before he was swept under the dark and deep waves of sleep.

He was met with even more darkness. It was the kind of darkness that engulfed you in it so that you felt you were suffocating. Nico di Angelo was no stranger to darkness, but he knew that this was different. He looked around desperately but his eyes could not ascertain anything. He put his hand in front of his face, but he couldn't even sense it there. It was as if light had never even existed in that place, and Nico's heart started to beat faster as he realized that he was slowly forgetting what light even looked like.

He heard a sinister female laugh behind him. The voice was raspy, like sandpaper against wood. Nico turned around frantically, but it was no use. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it where he thought he heard the voice, but then he heard an identical laugh to his right. He slashed his sword violently, but it only caused the laughter to increase. His whole body shook and he felt his brow bead with sweat.

"Who are you?" he exclaimed, backing up with his sword held up defensively in front of him.

"You know of me, young demigod," the voice purred, "And I know of you, very personally, actually. I've watched you and your sister since the day you two were born."

A burning fury rose in his chest and he clenched his jaw, "How do you know about Bianca?" he said, "Are you the one behind the monster attacks?"

The female voice laughed again, this time to his left. Nico tightened his grip on the handle of his sword, noting just how clammy they were. "Oh, young di Angelo. I am behind many things. Everything that has ever gone wrong in any demigod's life is partly because of me. You are fighting a losing battle, all demigods are. Neither you, nor son of Dionysus, nor daughter of Aphrodite have the power to defeat me. Mark my words, Ghost King - _you will fail._

"Show yourself!" he said, his voice rising in pitch as he became more unnerved.

"I will, young demigod. I will."

Nico awoke in his bed, sheets soaked in sweat. He knew that he had just communicated with who would probably turn out to be "the last boss" on their quest. The only problem though, he thought with a sigh, was that he learned absolutely nothing about who they were fighting against. He hated whenever he had terrifying demigod dreams, but he hated them ever more when they were not helpful in the slightest. Nico shrugged off his aviator jacket, feeling too sweaty to continue wearing it. He rolled it up into a ball and hugged it close to him, then fell back asleep.

* * *

The next morning the questers rose before dawn. The sun was just peeking out from the horizon when Nico arrived at the Big House to meet up with Daniel and Drew beforehand. The two were sitting on the porch swing and talking lowly to each other. Daniel held a backpack in his lap and had a belt complete with a sheaf for his sword. Drew, always one to make sure she presented herself well, had full makeup and curled hair. She also wore a designer jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and expensive looking jeans. Daniel gave Nico a small smile, and Drew nodded to him.

Chiron then walked out of the Big House and smiled at the three. "I see that you guys are ready," he said, "I'll escort you to the edge of the camp. Argus is waiting there for you, and he'll be able to drive you as far as he can take you."

They nodded and followed him through the camp towards the pine tree that marked the border of the camp's boundaries. As they walked past the hearth Nico saw a young-looking girl kneeling in front of it, warming her hands. Nico recognized the goddess Hestia, and nodded to her respectfully. The goddess gave him a warm smile, and they continued on.

Once they reached the tall pine tree the air around them became thick with tension. Nico patted the head of the sleeping dragon that protected the golden fleece hanging from a branch. The dragon gave a content sigh, smoke billowing slowly out of its nostrils. For some reason that comforted Nico, and he felt himself unwinding just a little. Argus was waiting for them there, his hundreds of eyes alternating blinking sleepily. It looked like he had just rolled out of bed, too.

"Argus will be taking you to the end of the Brooklyn Bridge. To escort you any further would be unwise," said Chiron.

"Why is that?" asked Daniel.

"It's kind of out of the gods' jurisdiction," said Nico, "You'll understand more when we get there."

They filed into the car that Argus was driving, all fitting into the backseat. Daniel sat in the middle of Nico and Drew, his backpack in his lap. As the car started moving, Nico watched absent-mindedly as the scenery blurred past the window. The car ride was quiet, and all three teenagers tried their hardest not to catch each other's eye. Drew was anxiously bouncing her knee up and down, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows furrowed in what looked like concern. Daniel was uncharacteristically quiet. Even Argus looked uncomfortable with the silence, and he never spoke.

"So, where are we even going anyway?" asked Daniel.

"A couple of friends of mind that live in Brooklyn know their way around magic. I'm thinking that they're the best chance we've got to starting this whole quest off on the right track. But, well, I'm not quite sure it's in the rules..." Nico trailed off.

"In the rules?" asked Drew, eyes narrowing, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I'm not really aware of the whole logistics of it or whether it's allowed or whatever. But I know that's been suggested that our two groups stay away from each other," said Nico.

"Because that totally answered my question, thank you," said Drew, sighing and shaking her head.

"Like I said, it's kind of hard to explain, and I'll be able to give you all the details of it when we get there. They aren't demigods, they're basically part of a whole other pantheon."

Daniel raised his eyebrows appraisingly, "Like Mythomagic," he said.

"Kinda," said Nico.

"Man, I really want to ask which Pantheon, but I kinda want to try to figure it out myself when we get there," he said, the familiar excited light igniting once again in his eyes.

"If you figure it out in the first twenty seconds I'll get drunk with you," said Nico.

Nico didn't think that his face could have possibly have lightened up any more, but it did, "Really?" he asked, a huge grin on his face.

He scoffed, "Of course not. I'm not a drunkard like you."

Daniel put his hand over his heart dramatically, mock-offended, "Well, at least I don't look like Nicholas Cage's son," he said.

"Who?"

"I liked it better when it was silent," said Drew.

"Well, you're going to have to get used to it, beauty queen. Like it or not, you're on this quest with us. With our luck, we'll probably end up camping in the middle of nowhere, just the three of us," said Daniel, who looked a bit too happy about that.

"Camping I can do," said Drew, "I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stand the both of you before I command you to jump off a cliff, though."

"Ouch," said Daniel, "Do you think you would really be able to make us jump off a cliff, though?"

Drew shrugged, "I dunno, but you guys probably don't want to find out."

"Well, if all else fails the human body contains up to forty feet of intestines," said Nico matter-of-factly.

"What?" shrieked Drew, her eyes comically wide. She covered her face in her hands, making retching noises, then started to laugh along with Daniel. Nico could even see Argus chuckling in the front seat.

"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!" she said, a smile still on her face, "Oh my gods, Nico, never say anything like that again."

"Are you kidding? That was hilarious! Please, Nico, if you ever find the opportunity for another disgusting joke like that, please share it," he said, gazing at Nico like he was the greatest thing to ever grace the Earth.

Nico couldn't help but blush a little at their reactions, "Duly noted," he replied to Daniel, then settled comfortably back into his seat.

* * *

From the point that Argus dropped them off of, it was only a short walk to the Brooklyn House. Nico's insides were squirming, it had been over a year since he had last visited. It was funny, Nico reflected, the last time he had physically talked to Carter he was right in the middle of the Apocalypse. From the letters that they had exchanged since then, Nico learned that they had been successful in the fight against Apophis - although that was pretty obvious, considering that the world hadn't descended into chaos.

Nico had debated sending a letter announcing his intentions to visit, but at the last minute he chickened out. He wondered how much had changed since the last time he was there, and of course there was that one question on his mind that he couldn't shake. He would just have to figure it out for himself.

As they approached the House, Nico watched the other two's faces in amusement as they came to the realization that their destination was an old abandoned warehouse. "Um," said Drew, "Are you sure we're at the right place?"

Nico nodded, "Of course."

"Really? Because it looks like a shitty warehouse to me," said Daniel.

"It's the Mist," said Nico, "Really look at it. If you concentrate, you'll be able to see it."

He watched their faces with a sly smile as they stared intently at the warehouse, faces screwed up in confusion. Almost at the same time, their eyebrows rose significantly and eyes widened as the Brooklyn House appeared to them, sitting square on top of the warehouse. He walked up to the side of the building, pushing aside a rusted panel of metal. He pressed a button on the inside of it, then waited.

"Carter told me he had this installed in his last letter. It makes it easier for new recruits to reach them," he said to them.

Soon enough, he heard footsteps approaching the broken down, industrial door. He could've sworn he heard Carter chastising his sister about "Girl scouts," but he didn't have much time to think on that before the door was open and he was face to face with him.

"I told you it wasn't the Girl Scouts," said Carter to Sadie, who was pouting next to him, obviously disappointed, "How would they even know about us in the first place?"

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know?" she said, "But I'm telling you, every other week they're ringing that bell whenever you aren't home. If you don't believe me, just look in the cupboard. I swear I have seven boxes of Thin Mints."

Nico raised one eyebrow, "Am I interrupting something?" he said.

Carter turned back to him, his face at first unreadable for a split second, then it turned into a warm smile, "You didn't say that you were coming," he said.

He shrugged, "Kinda short notice. I have this quest, and I need some help."

"Well, you came to the right place, then," said Carter, then beckoned them inside, "Come on in, it's freezing outside."

* * *

A/N: I feel almost evil for cutting it off there, but whatever. Here's an early update, consider it a Thanksgiving present. Even if you aren't American, this update is still for you. I was at my grandparents all day so I had time to post, I really hope you like it.

Many thanks to Geek4Greek, Supercian, and Guest(s? I think you are the same person, but you could be two. Idk) for posting such nice reviews. You guys are the best, hearing your feedback always makes me so happy. I'm so glad you're enjoying it this far!

Coming up, Drew and Khufu bond and Daniel gets a glowy sword. You'll be seeing the update in a week, so keep your eyes out! Reviews/follows/favorites etc. are the bessstttt, so don't be shy! I love you all 3


	4. Daniel Gets a Magical Sword

They followed the siblings into the warehouse, and Nico notice Drew and Daniel giving each other strange looks, as if they were having a complete unspoken conversation that Nico prayed wasn't about him. Carter and Sadie led them up a rickety set of stair that lead to an old wooden door that, upon closer inspection, was much newer and cleaner.

They opened the door to a wide open entrance hall with sparkling marble floors. Right in front of them was a life-sized sculpture of a god with the head of a crane, holding scrolls under his arm.

"Egyptian!" exclaimed Daniel, "There, you have to get drunk with me now, Nico."

Carter gave a questioning look to Nico, who simply rolled his eyes. "Carter, Sadie, these are my two questmates. The dunce to my right is Daniel, son of Dionysus, and that's Drew, daughter of Aphrodite."

Carter smiled politely and shook their hands, always one for manners. Sadie, on the other hand, simply nodded at them, studying them from head to toe. "It's nice to meet you," he said, "I'm Carter Kane, magician following the path of Horus. This is my sister, Sadie, who follows the path of Isis."

"You're boring them to death," said Sadie, "C'mon, I'll give you guys a tour of the house. God knows that Carter would only point out all the boring historical stuff. All the other kids are doing their study time right now, so it's the quietest it's ever gonna get. Oo, I bet Khufu would love to meet you, Drew."

Carter watched in horror as Sadie beckoned them along excitedly. Nico shared the same sentiment, he sincerely hoped that Sadie wouldn't scare them away too bad.

Nico tucked his hands in the pockets of his oversized aviator jacket as he stood in the middle of the room with Carter awkwardly. They looked around the room for what felt like an eternity, neither one wanting to be the first to speak. Nico, however, proved the most stubborn. Carter eventually gave in after a fully minute of silence and spoke.

"I'd never expect you of all people to be going on a quest," he said.

Nico nodded, "Yeah, tell me about it. I was kinda forced into it against my will, to be honest. Figures, right?" he paused, absent-mindedly playing with the Hades figurine in his pocket, trying to muster up the courage to ask what he needed to know, what was never spoken about in their letters.

"So, how are you and Zia?" he said, finally finding his voice.

Carter's face lit up in a warm smile that seemed to appear despite himself, "Really good, actually. We're great," he said, then bit the inside of his cheek, "I never thanked you for everything you did for me. It really helped."

Nico shrugged, "It's nothing," he said, "You can repay me for helping me out on this quest, at least."

"Of course," he said, then started walking towards what Nico remembered as the living room, "C'mon, I'm tired of standing," said Carter, and Nico followed. They settled on the couch, Carter rested against the sofa's arm and Nico decided on sitting casually with his feet resting on the edge of the coffee table in front of them.

"Could Sadie be able to do a spell to help us trace a type of magic to its source? That's what this whole quest is all about," said Nico, "Someone has been bewitching monsters to attack mortals and be more aggressive to demigods. We have to find them and stop them."

Carter nodded, "Yeah, that definitely sounds like something she'll be able to do. I'm not quite sure how effective it will be against Greek sorcery, but magic is magic, right? I'm sure it will work for your purposes."

Nico nodded, "I sure do hope so," he said, then decided to change gears, "So, what's it like being Pharoah?" Carter had told him all about the aftermath of the defeat of Apophis in his last letter, and Nico was happy for him that it turned out so well in his favor.

Carter smiled and leaned against the couch, feeling more comfortable in Nico's presence, "It's hard," he said, "I go back and forth from here and the first nome all the time. But it's good, it's like I finally found that place where I belong."

Nico nodded, "That's great," he said, "And the rest of the kids, Felix and them, they're doing good?"

Carter nodded, "They're great," he said, then a solemn look passed over his face, "I met Percy," he said, somewhat out of the blue.

On the inside Nico's house was pounding, but he was careful to try to make his expression unreadable. "Like, recently? Why didn't you write that in your letters?"

He shrugged, "It wasn't really that recent. It was more around before the fight against Apophis got pretty bad, but after we met for the first time. And I dunno, it just seemed like something better to talk about in person. I didn't mention you, but he gave me a way to contact him if I ever needed any help," he then looked him straight in the eye with an expression of sympathy, "I totally understand. Now that I've met him, I understand."

Nico nodded solemnly, "Yeah, well, I'm kind of over it," he said, although he wasn't sure if he entirely believed that himself, and judging from the look Carter gave him he wasn't all that convinced either, "You know it's time to reassess your feelings when the guy you've pined over for years jumps into Hell just to be with the girl he loves."

Carter raised his eyebrows and tilted his head as if to say "_go on_," but when Nico did not continue he decided to ask for himself, "That sounds like you have one hell of a story to tell, excuse the pun."

"Maybe after the quest, I'll tell you everything," he said.

At that moment Sadie, Drew, and Daniel walked back into the room. Drew was practically bouncing up and down in excitement, a huge grin on her face.

"Oh my gods, Nico, have you heard about the whole situation with Sadie, Walt, and Anubis? It's insane, totally a love story worthy of Aphrodite. Did you also know that we go to the same school?" Drew was the happiest Nico had ever seen her. It looked like she and Sadie had really hit it off, despite the obvious differences between the two. He had half a mind to leave her at the Brooklyn House while he and Daniel finished up the quest, and he was pretty sure that she would be fin with that idea, as well.

"Carter, I was just suggesting to Drew and Daniel that we all have a nice brunch out with Philip of Macedonia," said Sadie, a grin on her face that seemed to foretell nothing good.

"Sure, that's a great idea - " Carter started, but then was interrupted by her.

"That's fantastic, I'm so glad you agree with me. So you can go get that started while the four of use start on figuring out the quest," said Sadie, taking Drew and Daniel by the arm and beckoning Nico to follow them. Nico looked back to Carter and shrugged, and Carter sighed and shook his head dramatically.

"See what I have to put up with?" he said, then brought his hand to Nico's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze, "I'll see you in a bit."

"Alright geeks - I mean, Greeks! Follow me, I'm sure the library had something that will be able to help you out," Sadie smiled as she escorted them down the hall.

Drew looked over to Nico and gave him a questioning look, but he didn't quite understand what she was trying to ask him. When he gave her a confused expression, she simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Nico hasn't deciphered your non-verbal communication yet, Drew," said Daniel.

Drew opened her mouth to respond, but at that moment Sadie opened the doors to the library. She immediately forgot about replying to him as she looked around the vast room in awe, taking in every detail. The room was lined floor to ceiling in books and scrolls, with clay Shabti in every corner. It was dimly lit, but still full of vibrant colors.

"It's beautiful," she said, looking at the mosaic on the floor.

"Yeah, it's pretty ace, for a library at least," said Sadie, smiling at a girl reading at one of the tables. She walked up to a life-sized clay statue, a Shabti, and regarded it.

"I need something that details a spell or enchantment that can trace magic, please. If you find more than one, bring them," she then paused and bit her lip, thinking, "Actually, scratch that last part. Let's have a maximum of ten texts."

She turned to the trio, "Last time I said something like that he ended up bringing over a hundred different scrolls and books. Carter threw a huge fit."

The three chuckled and watched as the Shabti popped out of sight. They sat at one of the rectangular tables and waited for it to return. Sure enough, less than a minute later it appeared, clay arms full with different scrolls and ancient looking books.

"Thank god I gave him a limit," said Sadie as she brought the pile of text over to the table. She flipped through a couple at random, nodding along as she did so.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she said, "A lot of it is in hieroglyphics, and all the other stuff you guys wouldn't understand, so it looks like a fat lot of reading for me!" she exclaimed with a sarcastic celebratory clap.

Drew took this new period of silence while Sadie flipped through the books and scrolls to turn to Nico with a small smile on her face.

"So," she said, and Nico felt a burning pit of fear in his stomach at the look she was giving him. It was the kind of look that a child of Ares might give you right before they kicked your ass in capture the flag. "What's the deal with you and Carter?"

Daniel, who was staring at the mosaic on the floor, perked up his head in interest at the comment. Nico immediately felt his demigod reflexes kicking in, the very same ones that allowed him to flee when he was in danger, or fight back when he was cornered. Currently, Nico felt like that was exactly the case.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, crossing his arms across his chest protectively. He leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the table, his black Converse obscuring the face of the daughter of Aphrodite across from him, thinking that if he could not see her then the conversation would have to be over.

Drew pushed his shoes to the side and peeked around at him, "Nice try," she said, "But I'm a daughter of Aphrodite, I know romantic history when I see some. And I'm not going to let up until you tell us, so spill."

Nico looked to Sadie for support, but she was still staring at a scroll, careful to stay out of the conversation. It didn't look like Daniel was going to help him, either. He looked just as interested in prying into Nico's private life as Drew did. He knew a hopeless cause when he saw one, and fighting against Drew when it came to romance was one of them.

"Carter and I had a thing a while back," he said, sulking at his defeat, "He was pining after a girl who barely knew him, and I had a crush on a hero that would never like me back. I met him shortly after the Titan War for me and what was the middle of the Apocalypse for him. It was never anything serious, we just had each other. Are you happy now?"

In fact, it seemed like it was quite so. Drew looked ecstatic to be hearing this new information, like it was a new form of entertainment for her. She had a huge smile on her face, resting her chin in her hands with her elbows on the table to show that she was all ears to anything Nico had to say.

"How did you guys meet?" she asked, "There has to be an interesting story behind it, I've never heard of demigods and Egyptian magicians interacting before. I never even knew that there were Egyptian magicians and gods."

"That's because we're not supposed to. Historically, when different pantheons meet it usually lends to some sticky situations. Just like how the Mist used to hide Roman demigods from Greek ones, it hides the heroes from the Egyptian pantheon and vice versa. Hades, there's probably kids from Norse and Asian mythologies running around right now and we don't even know it," said Nico.

"Then how were you able to meet if we aren't supposed to?" she asked

"That was partly my fault," said Sadie, looking up from her reading and smiling sheepishly.

"Sadie tried to use necromancy magic to raise an army of the dead for the fight against Apophis," said Nico, chuckling darkly at the memory.

"Did your zombie senses start tingling, Nico?" said Daniel.

"Basically. They ended up bringing back a bunch of shades and I had to investigate. And when I got there they had no idea how to control them and almost started the zombie apocalypse in Brooklyn," he said.

"It was _not_ even close to that dramatic," said Sadie, "I would have gotten it under control eventually."

Nico shook his head, "She wouldn't have. So I saved their sorry asses and then had to tell them who I was. And then to thank me they took me in for a while. That was around the time that they were bringing in a lot of other kids to teach the ways of the gods, so I kind of weirdly fit in."

"Yeah, and then he went and left us," said Sadie, sticking her tongue out at him, to which Nico shrugged and did not reply.

"What happened?" asked Drew, "Why did you leave?"

"I had duties elsewhere," he said flippantly, not wanting to get into it. What had happened was that Hades had found out about his friendship with the two magicians and called him to the Underworld. Surprisingly, when Nico went there his father only wanted to warn him and tell him to be careful. He told him about other times when demigods and magicians interacted with each other, and how it usually didn't end up very well for both parties involved. And after the meeting with his father was over was when he first met Hazel in the fields of Asphodel and learned of her story. After that, he took her to Camp Jupiter.

"Nico's a rambling man, he can never be tied down to one place," said Sadie with a smile, then returned to her books.

Nico nodded absent-mindedly at Sadie's comment. That was why him and Sadie got along so well, Sadie understood him almost as well as she did herself. He turned to Drew, who seemed pleased with the information she had received. Daniel, however, was being uncharacteristically quiet. He continued to stare around the library, but the awe he had previously displayed was gone.

"You're quiet," said Nico to him, "That's incredibly unlike you. I'm not complaining, by the way, it's actually a nice change."

Daniel looked over to him, not amused, "I'm capable of listening, contrary to popular belief. You've talked more now than you have the whole time we've met you. I'm being polite by paying attention to you, Edward Scissorhands."

"Who?" said Nico, annoyed by the fact that apparently both Sadie and Drew understood the joke, but not him. They were both giggling lightly at him, but didn't make a big show about it. He decided to let it go.

"I think I've got it, guys!" said Sadie, rolling out a scroll out on the table so the three of them could see it as well. However, if she was expecting them to understand it, she was sorely mistaken. The writing was completely in hieroglyphics, and Nico couldn't even begin to guess what it was trying to say.

"This scroll describes how a magician can track down enemy magicians by using their own magic source against them. It basically tracks down where a magician is by detecting the last places they used magic until it brings you right to them. It looks bloody complicated, though, and it needs a vessel for it to work.

"What kind of vessel?" asked Nico, leaning forward in interest, "Not a human vessel, right?"

"Well, it can be a human vessel, but even though that would make the spell more powerful, that's super incredibly dangerous. The vessel can be an object, too, it just needs to be wielded by someone," she said.

"Well, that seems pretty easy, then," said Daniel, "So we basically just have an enchanted object to act as a compass that always points to the source of the magic."

"Well, it's not really that simple," said Sadie, her face falling in concern and she read on, "It says here that even though having an object reduces the initial risks of being a vessel, yourself, it is more like for the magic to backfire."

"Backfire, how?" said Drew.

Sadie sighed, "The wielder of the enchanted object is always in danger of succumbing to the will of the object. People kinda go crazy trying to control it. I'm not even sure that it's worth it to try."

Nico sighed and sunk in his seat, "So there's no way we can find the source of the magic."

"I don't know, guys, I think we should try," said Daniel, "If the only bad thing that comes out of the object being the vessel is people go crazy, then I say we should go for it. God of madness, remember? If I'm the one wielding the object then we'll be fine."

Drew shook her head aggressively, "Hell no, Daniel. You don't even know how to control your own powers, it's way too dangerous."

"Surprisingly, I agree with Drew," said Nico, "I really don't think we should mess with it."

"You guys don't understand," he said, his brown eyes, usually half-lidded and warm, were intense and focused on Nico and Drew, "This is probably the reason I'm mentioned in the prophecy. It referred to me as the _madness wielder_. Not _son of the god of wine_, not _madness bringer_, not _drunken bastard_, not even _hot piece of ass_. This is the part I have to play in this quest."

There was a tense silence as they all thought over his words. As much as Nico worried for Daniel and his well-being, he knew that there was no arguing with him. He was almost as stubborn as Nico, which was a pretty tall feat - children of Hades were definitely not known for their flexibility. Daniel set his mouth into a hard line and crossed his arms over his chest to show that he would be unwavering in his opinion. Even Drew sulked, probably thinking that even she couldn't argue with him.

"Well, I'm willing to do the spell if you guys are," said Sadie, looking to Drew and Nico. They both nodded.

"It's Daniel's decision," said Nico, "We have no place to try to control him. And you better not try to talk him out of it, Drew."

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but nodded.

"Well, that's settled then," said Sadie brightly, "We'll work on the spell after brunch, Carter should be done by now."

"Fantastic, I'm starving," said Daniel. He stood up from his seat and walked out of the library. Drew and Nico stood up to follow him, but not without giving each other concerned looks, though. While it was incredibly brave of Daniel to volunteer, Nico thought it was also incredibly dangerous. He was worried about him.

Brunch turned out to be awkward for many reasons. Drew would give little smirks to Nico every time Carter spoke, and Daniel was incredibly quiet. Even though he had just talked about being starving, he was picking at his food and eating very little. He kept staring at a fly buzzing around the table, and Nico could have sworn that the longer Daniel stared at it, the more erratic the fly's flight path became. He felt that it wasn't his place to point it out, however.

Nico and Drew took turns telling Sadie and Carter the story behind their quest and recited the prophecy to them. Unfortunately, they did not have much advice for the demigods. It seemed like the siblings were both equally distracted. Sadie was obviously still trying to figure out the spell, she had brought the scroll with her to brunch and paid no mind of how she was dropping crumbs of food on what was probably an ancient artifact. Carter's distraction, however, was harder to pinpoint. He looked troubled whenever Nico looked over at Daniel in concern. Nico hoped that it wasn't a jealousy thing. Carter had Zia now, and the thought of Nico being an item with Daniel was laughable.

Sadie then took her turn telling Carter about her plans for the spell. He nodded and offered his help for the spell, but Sadie replied that she didn't need it.

Soon enough, everybody finished their food and Nico suggested they do the spell so they would be able to leave quicker.

"Already sick of us?" asked Sadie with a smirk.

Nico smiled, "Never, but we are on a schedule."

She nodded, and they all moved their party to the living room. Khufu was sitting on the couch eating Cheetos and watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," but he made no indication that their presence was disturbing him. Drew sat next to the baboon, and Khufu offered her his bag of Cheetos. Apparently, they had bonded while Sadie had given them the grand tour. Needless to say, Nico found that completely bizarre.

"Are they fat-free?" she asked the baboon. Khufu replied by shaking his head and grunting a terse "Ah!"

"I don't want them, then. Thanks for offering."

Nico turned to Daniel to see what his reaction was to this exchange, but he wasn't paying attention. His eyes were trained on Sadie, who had her blue-highlighted hair in a bun to keep out of her eyes as she studied the scroll, her wand held tight in her hand.

She was biting her lip in concentration, nodding along as she read. "Alrighty, this spell is not going to be a piece of cake, but it's do-able," she turned to Daniel, "Do you have in mind what object you want enchanted?"

He unsheathed his sword, "I was thinking maybe this?" he said.

"Are you sure? Once it's enchanted, it will never be the same again. After you guys finish the quest you might not be able to use it," she said.

He shrugged, "I'm fine with that. I'm not much of a fighter, anyway."

"With those biceps? I'd expect you to be an expert in kicking ass and taking names," she said, trying to lighten the tension in the room.

It worked, Daniel smiled and ran his hands through his curly hair like he was embarrassed. Nico hadn't noticed before, but his biceps _were_ pretty impressive - for a son of Dionysus, at least. Come to think of it, Daniel was pretty muscular. He was solid, with broad shoulders and a defined chest. That was pretty much the extent of it, however, as he was a little soft around the middle.

"Thank you for noticing, Sadie," he said, laughing, "I do lift pretty often, although the weights are use are a little unconventional in that they're wine bottles, and I'm lifting them to my mouth. Works pretty well, though, huh?" He then flexed and did bodybuilder poses.

"Now that's not even fair," said Nico, "Hades knows I work out way more than you, and here I am all scrawny and shit." He sulked, crossing his arms across his chest dramatically, "Why can't I be as buff as a lazy Dionysus kid?"

Daniel put his hand over his heart in a mock-offended way, "Lazy? How dare you. It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level I'm really quite busy."

"Alright, boys. If you could stop flirting for one minute we could do the spell and actually start the quest," said Drew, who was watching the exchange in amusement.

Nico scoffed, "I was _not_ flirting. I have much higher standards, trust me."

"Maybe we should do the spell before things get ugly, yes?" said Sadie, who opened up the scroll and used two books as paperweights to keep it open on the coffee table. She raised her wand and looked over the scroll one last time.

"Alright, Daniel. Raise the sword and keep it away from your body, thanks," said Sadie. She closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths, and when she opened them they were glowing blue, and there was a blue aura all around her, with shimmering rainbow wings erupting from her back.

"What is she doing?" Drew whispered to Nico. He turned back to her to see that she was almost cowering beside Khufu, who was struggling to see the TV behind Sadie.

"Channeling the powers of the goddess Isis," he said.

That was when Sadie began to chant, and hieroglyphs began to glow all around her. They danced around her, then swirled towards Daniel and surrounded his arms and the sword he was holding. The sword glowed white-hot and illuminated his whole face as he stared down at it in awe.

Sadie continued to chant for a full minute, and the longer she went on the harder it seemed for Daniel to hold on to the sword. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he clenched his jaw in concentration. Sadie didn't seem to be doing that great, either. She looked incredibly pale, and the arm that held up her wand was shaking. Carter stood by her with his arms at the ready to catch her if she were to collapse.

There was one final outburst of glowing light that crescendoed until it filled the room with a brilliant light. As quickly as it appeared, the light disappeared and Sadie stopped chanting. Carter caught her as she collapsed, then brought her over to the couch next to Drew.

"Well, that was incredibly exhausting," Sadie deadpanned, her eyes drooping. She rested her head on Drew's shoulder, "Nap time," she slurred.

Nico looked over to Daniel, who was still holding the sword and looked almost as exhausted as Sadie.

"You okay, man?" asked Nico, resting his hand on his shoulder and directing him to the couch, where he sat right next to Sadie, "Should I get the ambrosia?"

"No, save that for something important," he said, waving him off, "I'm fine, trust me. Just kinda tired."

Nico awkwardly patted his head to comfort him, not quite sure what else he could do for him. He looked over to Carter, "How long do you think it will take for them to recover?"

Carter shrugged, "Not sure, but I'm thinking that you should probably stay the night and head out on your quest tomorrow. We could stick Daniel in the infirmary if he needs it, we'll have a nice dinner here, then you'll be rested for tomorrow."

Nico nodded. He didn't really want to spend any more time than he needed to there, but the effects the spell had on the both of them really worried him. It was a good idea to give Daniel a day to recover, especially if he were to be wielding the exceptionally dangerous object that was the key to the whole quest and might possibly make him mad.

"Drew can sleep in my room," Sadie mumbled into Drew's shoulder.

She smiled, "As long as I don't have to wear any of your ugly clothes."

Sadie mumbled something incoherent into her shoulder and weakly punched her side. Apparently Drew understood what she had said, because she responded with, "I'm not a bitch, I'm just honest."

* * *

A/N: Oh my gods guys, you seriously are the best. You guys write such nice reviews and give such nice comments and omg I'm just so glad you guys like the fic! Thanks to Idonotget, X, Stormgirl415, Guest, and Geek4Greek for your insanely nice and helpful reviews. It really does encourage me to update even more, knowing that you guys like it so much :)

As for the Stormgirl's question about kids in the Dionysus cabin, I kinda added a handful of more kids to the cabin under the assumption that more children are being born and getting claimed and also that Pollux has probably gone to college or something, making Daniel the oldest in the cabin. So just some annoying artistic license was taken just so Daniel could be head of the cabin. What an OC, right? They just ruin everything.

Anywho, this chapter was originally going to be the only chapter when they're at the Kane's, but that turned out to be waaaaay too long for just one chapter, so I broke it up a little. That also explains why the chapter is kind of cut off suddenly, that was the best place to separate it. Also, any opinions on the history Nico has with Carter? I'm actually thinking of writing a one-shot expanding on their relationship. I think that they both would be very good for each other in regards to helping each other out with their own relationship issues. Now I just feel like I'm rambling, so I'll just cut this author's note here.

Next chapter, Drew steals a car and they go to New Jersey. Keep on with the awesome reviews and remember that you guys are the best :D


	5. The Boys Share a Bed

Daniel spent the rest of the day recuperating on the couch with Khufu the baboon. When he was asked to go the infirmary he flat-out refused, and no one could change his mind. The enchanted sword lay on the coffee table, and he would spend minutes simply staring at it, and wouldn't stop until Khufu poked his shoulder and directed his attention back to the TV.

Sadie recovered from the spell quicker than Daniel and used her renewed energy to teach the kids at the house while Drew looked in. After the magicians-in-training finished their lessons, they immediately congregated towards Nico and exclaimed about how they missed him. Nico couldn't help but smile in spite of himself. He had to admit that he had missed them just the same.

Up until dinner, Nico taught Felix how to play Mythomagic. The kid had recently bought a couple of decks of cards as well as a Norse Mythology expansion pack, and Nico sat with him and picked out the perfect deck for him. He enjoyed the Norse god cards, as well as other winter and snow-magic related cards. He was a little disappointed when Nico told him that there were no cards that had any penguins on them, but he soon got over it. Around halfway through Daniel decided to join in on the fun. He still looked a little shaken, but he was almost completely back to normal. He and Felix ended up playing a game against Nico, but despite their joint efforts they both lost.

After that they had dinner, where the conversation was pretty much dominated by the magicians. Amos Kane had shown up as well, and listened politely to Nico's story of the quest and wished them luck. Nico was also happy to see that Daniel had regained his appetite. He had been really worried about him, and he was glad that he was somewhat back to normal, even if he found his normal self incredibly annoying.

During dinner Carter offered Nico and Daniel in his room, saying that he would sleep on the couch instead. At first Nico declined the offer, but Carter wouldn't relent so eventually he gave in - mostly because the day had really taken a toll on Daniel, who looked just about ready to fall asleep at the table.

Nico put his dishes in the sink, then took Daniel by the arm and practically dragged him to Carter's room. Daniel became alert enough to turn on the light and bring down the sheets. He looked around the room and wrinkled his nose.

"Talk about boring," he said referring to the all white interior decorating. Then he promptly dropped his pants.

Nico shielded his eyes, "Whoa, dude! What do you think you're doing?"

He jumped into the bed with a flop, "I'm going to sleep, that's what. Do you like sleeping in jeans? Cuz I don't." He knocked on the pillow, which was definitely not cotton and feathers, "This doesn't look very comfortable." He frowned at the hard white "pillow."

"It's to keep your _ba_ from flying away," said Nico.

Daniel furrowed his eyebrows, "Now you're just making words up."

Nico sighed and turned to leave the room. "Wait," said Daniel, "Can we, uh, can we talk?" He sat up on the bed, arms hugging his knees. His boxers were a plaid blue. Nico had almost expected them to be purple or had grape patterns or something along those lines.

Nico sat on the bed next to him, nodding. "What's up?"

Daniel bit his lip, "Would it be too much to ask for you to stay here? Like, I know we're already sharing a room and everything, but I don't really want to be alone right now."

Nico bit back the urge to groan. As much as he wanted to help him out, Nico wasn't a babysitter. Not to mention he was terrible at being supportive in general. However, he tried to put on his most sympathetic face.

"What's going on?" he asked, watching as Daniel's eyes start to droop. He let go of his knees and laid down on his side, eyes level with Nico's belt.

"When Sadie was doing the spell I saw some things," he said, his voice slowing, "I think I saw who was behind all of this, but I couldn't tell who she was. Nico, I'm really fucking scared. I'm not a hero, I tried to act like one and accept the responsibility to wield the sword, but I'm really not." He started to ramble, his eyes starting to close completely.

"I'm pretty sure we all feel that way on this quest," said Nico, laying down on his back. He stared up at the ceiling, trailing his eyes over the minuscule cracks in the plaster, "You're in good company."

Daniel shook his head, his curls bouncing, "No, you're wrong," he slurred, "You're a hero. You traveled through Tartarus all by yourself. Who does that?"

"When you have Hades for a father, Tartarus turns into a walk in the park," he said.

Daniel made an incoherent noise of dissent in response, his head burrowing into the sheets. "You don't give yourself enough credit," he said.

Nico's eyes were starting to droop, as well, and he told himself he would just rest his eyes for a moment - at least until Daniel fell asleep. "It's whatever," he said nonchalantly. He wasn't feeling up to arguing on whether he was actually a hero or not when the answer was so blatantly obvious that he wasn't. He felt Daniel shift in the bed next to him, and Nico idly wondered if he were finally falling asleep.

Suddenly he felt lips on his own, soft and intoxicating. He felt a warm feeling travel from his mouth down his esophagus and into the pit of his stomach, like good alcohol. His mind felt fuzzy and his movements slow, so it took him a couple of moments before he realized what was happening. An image of Percy Jackson's face flashed on the backs of his eyelids, and his heart fluttered. He rested his hand on his shoulder, but then his mind cleared slightly. That was when he realized who was really kissing him. He immediately pulled away from Daniel and used his hand on his shoulder to push him so he fell back into the bed.

"Hades' bed sheets, Daniel!" Nico exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing?"

Daniel's cheeks immediately flushed. He ran his hand through his head anxiously, "It was just a friendly kiss," he said, "It didn't mean anything."

"You tried to stick your tongue down my throat!" he said, scooting away from him on the bed, "Jesus Christ, Daniel, control your hormones."

"Wrong mythology," he said, his words slurring once more. Nico sighed, realizing that Daniel had been half-asleep the whole time. He didn't know what he was doing - if he had been fully alert he would never have kissed him. If there was one thing that Nico knew, it was that no one in their right mind would want to kiss him. "Also, not a great idea to tell a son of Dionysus to control their hormones. That's a joke. Don't worry about it, kid. Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously and change the subject."

Nico groaned, "I'm going to sleep. You stay on your side of the bed and try not to molest me in the middle of the night. Also, I'd better not feel any morning wood."

Daniel giggled softly, but he could tell that he was already gone. Nico reached over and turned off the light of the lamp, then hugged his jacket closer to him. The pit of his stomach felt hollow, guiltily feeling as though he had relapsed. He had even told Carter that he was over Percy, but he couldn't lie to himself. Just because some Dionysus kid was comfortable enough with his sexuality that he could kiss anyone he wanted without meaning didn't mean that that was how it was for Nico. He felt ashamed and embarrassed for thinking those things about a person who would never feel the same way. He turned so his back to Daniel, who was already snoring softly. He mind wandered to what the son of Dionysus could have seen while Sadie while she did her spell, and what exactly it was that shook him up so much. He decided that he'd have to ask him the next morning, when they would officially start their quest.

* * *

The next morning, Nico woke up before the sun was even close to rising. He had his breakfast out on the patio with Khufu, who seemed delighted to have company. Between them they ate the remaining Cheerios that were in the house while he waited for the rest of the teens to get up.

When the sun was fully over the horizon Sadie and Drew emerged from the room they had shared the previous night. Sadie looked like she had just rolled out of bed, and this look was only complemented by her black cotton magician's clothes that looked remarkably like pajamas. Drew, on the other hands, looked ready to start the day. Her hair was straightened and her makeup was perfectly done. Nico couldn't help but wonder if she had brought a _hair straightener_ on the quest with them. Makeup was one thing, but a hair straightener? She probably brought a curling iron as well, he thought idly.

Drew sat at the table and ate her yogurt. She was silent, but looked intermittently at Nico, smiling to herself. Of course, he found this completely infuriating. After she did it for what felt like the thousandth time, he finally snapped.

"What's so funny?" said Nico, scowling at her.

"You kissed Daniel," she said, a smug smile on her face. Khufu looked over to Nico in shock, his eyes wide and mouth stretched comically to look like an 'O.'

Nico's eyes widened, "Okay, first off he kissed _me_. Second - how do you even know?"

Her eyes shone in amusement, and Nico noticed for the first time that her eyes weren't hazel like he initially thought, but constantly changing color so subtly that it would take someone exceptionally observant to notice. They changed from brown to blue before settling on a deep sea green, then stayed there.

"I'm a daughter of Aphrodite, I know these things," she said haughtily, but when Nico glared at her she gave in.

"Daniel told me," she said. Nico groaned and put his hands on his face in exasperation, silently casting a curse on him and his family.

"Hey, you shouldn't worry about it," she said, still smiling to herself, "Daniel has that effect on everyone, like when he kisses them, I mean. It's a Dionysus thing, kissing him basically makes you feel like you're drunk. So that's why you got butterflies in your stomach and felt all giddy. It's not necessarily that you like him. Honestly, seems kind of rapey to me."

"Let's stop talking about this, yes?" he said, diverting his attention back to his Cheerios.

"Don't think that it meant anything, alright? He was suffering from exhaustion and he's into broody boys. He probably wasn't in his right mind, saw an opportunity and took it. Besides, he kisses everyone. It's kind of ridiculous," she said, shrugging nonchalantly and sucking on her yogurt spoon. Nico didn't mention the hypocrisy of a daughter of Aphrodite saying that excessive kissing was ridiculous.

"I'm not broody," said Nico, scowling at her.

Drew turned to Sadie and laughed, "Don't you just love it when boys prove your point for you?"

Nico sulked and swirled the remaining soggy Cheerios around the bowl with his spoon. Daniel then looked in to the patio, saw them and walked in. He poured himself a bowl of chocolate cereal and dug in, oblivious to the three of them staring him down.

He looked like he was completely ready to start the quest. He wore his thick hoodie over his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and his enchanted sword in the sheath that was attached to his belt. He gave a mammoth yawn that made his eyes water. He took a bite of his cereal and chewed it thoughtfully, looking around the room.

"Is Carter still asleep?" he asked, twirling his spoon in his bowl.

"No, he left last night to the first nome on official business. He told me to tell you guys that he was sorry that he couldn't say goodbye," said Sadie.

"Oh," said Nico, turning back to his cereal. He stared intently at the bowl, not wanting the others to see the disappointment on his face. He had to admit that he felt a little hurt by the fact that Carter didn't feel the need to say goodbye to him, but he supposed that he had duties elsewhere that he needed to attend to. Duties that were probably much more important than socializing with them. Nico understood completely, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"I've been thinking..." said Daniel slowly, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Uh-oh," joked Drew, to which Daniel replied to by making a rather rude gesture directed at her.

"I've been thinking about the quest," he said, "Especially after I had the vision when I was holding the sword. I saw a woman, but the prophecy says something about two women. A 'sorceress instigator' along with a 'monsters' mother.' I don't know which one I saw in my vision, but she was powerful. And she said that we were going to fail, but I call bullshit on that - she was probably just trying to scare us."

The three questmates thought that for a few moment, before Nico spoke up, "That sounds exactly like the dream I had the night before we started the quest. I didn't see her face, but I heard her voice, and she said the same thing. I'm not really sure who she could be, though. 'Monsters' mother' sounds a lot like Echidna, she basically is the mother of all monsters - except sea monsters, of course. Keto is their mother." Nico decided not to mention to the others that everything he knew about Echidna had all come from Percy, who had met her when he was younger.

"What about the sorceress instigator? Who could she be?" asked Sadie.

"What does 'instigator' even mean?" asked Daniel. Nico began to laugh, but then realized he was being serious. Daniel shrugged, looking bashful, "English isn't my first language."

"It's someone who makes trouble. Like someone who causes problems," said Drew.

Daniel whistled, "Well, that really narrows it down, doesn't it?"

Nico smiled, "What Greek god _doesn't_ start problems for everyone else?"

They all laughed, and all finished their breakfasts rather quickly after that. The identity of the woman in their dreams still gnawed at Nico, but he knew that it would do no good to dwell so much on it. There was no way they could figure that out without more information, anyway. After they all finished eating they put their dishes away and began to pack up. Daniel looked in his backpack a couple of times to make sure everything was there. Apparently, most of the stuff in the backpack was Drew's, and Daniel was just the pack mule. Once Drew put on her purple Northface jacket and her fuzzy boots, they were ready to head off.

They exchanged hugs with Sadie, hers and Drew's being especially long as they promised to keep in touch and planned sleepovers. When it came to Nico's turn, she hugged him tight and then surprised him with a noogie.

"Everything will turn out great, I know it," said Sadie with a smile, then practically pushed them out of the door.

"Go kill some monsters!" she called out to their retreating forms.

As the three walked out to the street, Nico looked to Daniel, "Where to now?" he asked.

Daniel looked intensely into the distance, his left hand resting on the handle of his sword. Nico wondered just how the enchantment worked, and what exactly he was seeing.

"We have to go west," he said finally, "That's where the magic is tracing back to. I have a feeling that Newark will be a good place to start."

Drew made a face and a gagging noise, "Ugh, New Jersey," she said.

Nico rolled his eyes, "Well, we have a destination, so let's start heading there. Um, how exactly are we going to get there, again?"

"I can handle this," said Drew, then she started to walk down the sidewalk, looking from side to side with her eyes peeled.

Apparently she found whatever she was looking for, as she held up one finger gesturing for the boys to wait. She walked quickly up to a man who had just got out of his car and was about to put some change into the parking meter. She gave him a big smile, and started to talk to him. She rested her hand on his arm, nodding her head as she spoke. After a couple of moments, the man nodded along with her, then walked away.

She waved them over, keys in hand, "Newark, here we come!" she said happily.

Nico furrowed his eyebrows, "I don't think this is legal," he said.

Drew laughed at him, "You're so cute! Don't worry about it - we won't get caught. I told him to report it missing in two days. We'll be long gone by then."

Nico looked to Daniel, who simply shrugged. "Shotgun!"

Nico sighed and got into the back seat. He didn't even mind, he knew that Daniel was going to have to be the navigator. He was the wielder of the sword that would point them in the right direction, anyway."

Drew slid into the car with a flourish. She turned the ignition, then looked disappointingly at the gas gauge. "I should have told him to get me some gas money," she said.

Nico sighed and rubbed his temples as Drew started to drive towards the freeway. He wondered how much longer he would be able to stand being on the quest with the both of them.

"According to the guy's GPS we should be there in about forty minutes!" announced Drew brightly.

"That's actually some pretty good news," said Daniel. From the back seat Nico couldn't quite tell, but it looked like he was still stroking the handle of his sword. "Hopefully following the magic won't lead us into the path of a bunch of monsters."

Nico groaned, "Do you have any idea of what a jinx is?" said Nico, kicking the back of his seat.

"Dude, calm down. I was making a joke," he said.

"We'll see who's laughing when we get attacked by a horde of monsters," said Nico sulkily.

"Jesus, remind me again why I kissed you, Tim Burton," said Daniel. Drew laughed at that comment, her laugh tinkling like tiny bells. Even her laugh was attractive, thought Nico, and that annoyed him even more.

"Remind me again why I don't kill you," grumbled Nico, crossing his arms and sinking into his seat.

"Maybe because I'm incredibly charismatic and good-looking," he flashed him a smile through the rearview mirror.

"Good-looking for a drunken frat boy, maybe," said Nico.

"You guys do know how hard it is to concentrate on driving when you two are flirting? Give it a rest, I'm supposed to the daughter of the love goddess. Aphrodite's hair dryer, guys, give it a rest," she laughed again.

"I'm taking a nap," grumbled Nico, laying down in the backseat, "Wake me up when we get there or if there is an emergency or something."

"Will do," said Daniel.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delayed update. All last week was packed with work and school and projects and studying for finals. I had absolutely no time to go on the computer D: On the brightside, though, Holiday break starts this friday, so I'll definitely have time to write and post! Sorry for the shortness and fillerness of this update, it really is just a chapter to help the characters get from one place to another. The next chapter is definitely worth it, though, trust me.

Thanks again for all the really nice reviews. Thanks to Supercian, LovePercyJackson, Guest, and malamuteblizzy for your reviews. And lol, that awkward moment when you accidentally write Piper's name instead of Drew. Woops. That's what happens when you write two fanfictions at the same time. Anyways, thanks again for reviewing and following and whatnot, it really does motivate me to post.

Next chapter, the trio stop to take a coffee break at Starbucks and find a little more than they expected.


	6. Starbucks Has Terrible Service

"Where are we going? We were supposed to turn right."

"Are we going in the wrong direction of the magic?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Exactly, it's fine. A little detour isn't going to hurt us."

"You don't know that. Where are we even going anyway?"

"I saw a sign for a Starbucks. Do you want me to fall asleep at the wheel? I think not. So calm down before I calm you down for you."

Nico stirred in the backseat, the raised voices coming from the front seat waking him from his slumber. He groaned and sat up. They were driving through a city which Nico assumed was Newark. It looked like every other city in the United States, if not a tad gloomier. He leaned forward in his seat so that his face was level with the two teenagers up front.

"What's going on?" asked Nico.

"Princess needs to take a latte stop," said Daniel with a roll of his eyes. Drew pushed him playfully and pulled into the parking lot.

"I would say that you guys could wait in the car, but I know from watching Scooby Doo that splitting up is just asking for trouble," she said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

They walked into the Starbucks, and immediately Nico got the feeling that there was something incredibly wrong going on. His senses were immediately heightened as he looked around the coffee shop, expecting to see some monster crouching in the corner, ready to pounce. But he saw nothing, just people sipping drinks or on their computers. He tried to tell himself that he was just being paranoid and there was nothing wrong, but his instincts had never failed him before.

Drew walked up to the counter and gave the boy behind the counter a big smile. He looked about their age, if not a little older. He was incredibly average looking, the only defining features about him being his thick-rimmed glasses. He was neither thin nor fat, and he wasn't ugly but he would never be found attractive, either. Despite this, Drew acted like he was the first boy she had seen in a thousand years, twirling her hair and acting bashful around him. Daniel looked over to Nico and mimed gagging himself, which made Nico laugh.

"Hi, I'm Drew. Could I have a grande Mocha Cookie Crumble frappe, please? With no whipped cream," she said. Nico wondered to himself exactly how much of that drink actually contained coffee, but he didn't speak up.

"That'll be four ninety-five," he said, smiling at her warmly.

"Sure," she said, then rummaged through her jacket pockets. Her face fell, "I forgot my wallet at home."

The boy behind the counter looked conflicted. He bit his lip, "Um, I'm not supposed to give away any free drinks..."

Drew's eyes widened and she shook her head, "Oh no, I would never ask that of you. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble," she said, then rested her hand on his arms, to which the boy gulped, "_It would be so nice if you did, though._"

Nico groaned. She was obviously using her charmspeak on the boy to get a free coffee. What a terrible thing to do, he thought to himself. Especially since the boy could get into a lot of trouble from his boss because of it. Nico finally understood all the things that Piper had said about Drew. What she was doing right then was the most selfish thing Nico had ever seen.

The boy nodded, "Don't worry, one Mocha Cookie Crumble on the house coming up," he said with a smile, then went to go make it. Drew smirked and started to walk over towards the counter she would be picking up her drink.

"You seriously couldn't pay the five dollars for the drink?" said Nico.

She shrugged and looked at him as if he had a second head, "If I don't have to, why should I?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because that's what decent human beings do?" said Nico, then looked to Daniel, "Are you gonna back me up, here?"

Daniel looked up from his sword, his eyes glazed over and distracted, "What?" he said.

Suddenly the uneasy feeling Nico had when he first walked through the doors returned, "What's wrong?" he asked Daniel, "Is everything alright?"

Daniel looked around the coffee shop with his eyes narrowed, "The magic signature we were following just got incredibly strong," he said, his hand resting on his sword like he was about to unsheath it. Nico unsheathed his own Stygian Iron sword and looked around the shop defensively.

"What do you think that means?" asked Drew, who was beginning to look frightened.

At that moment, the window looking out to the street shattered, spraying broken glass over the mortals sitting near the window. The patrons started to scream as they ran towards the exit, some of them bleeding profusely. Daniel unsheathed his sword, and Nico noticed that it was glowing, with tendrils of bright purple light coming from it and swirling around the blade.

A creature emerged from the broken window. It jumped into the Starbucks on all fours, its golden fur glittering in the sunlight. Nico looked to its face and saw the smiling visage of a beautiful woman with olive skin and completely black eyes.

"A sphinx," he said, going into his defensive stance, "Don't worry, guys. They only attack if you get the questions wrong. Percy told me about meeting one in the labyrinth. They don't ask riddles anymore, it's just a bunch of easy questions. We'll be able to handle it."

At this the sphinx began to laugh. It was a raspy cackle that came from deep in her throat and sounded like the growl of a big cat. "Foolish child of the underworld. You are ill-informed about me." The sphinx then started to approach them, muscles rippling underneath the heavy fur.

"_Stay back_," commanded Drew, but her voice was shaking and the charmspeak never reached the sphinx.

The sphinx growled, and out from behind the counter came the barista who had served Drew. He stood protectively in front of Drew, his arms outstretched so that he acted as a human shield for her. He opened his mouth to say something to sphinx, or whatever he saw it as through the Mist, but he was unable to utter a word. The sphinx's eyes flashed dangerously and she pounced on the mortal boy, going immediately for his jugular.

Drew screamed and backed up just before the bloodied body of the barista would have landed on her. The three of them watched in horror as the sphinx brutally dismembered the boy as he screamed for help.

Drew unsheathed her knife, her hands shaking and tears flowing down her cheeks, "_Get away from him!_" she shouted, and this time her charmspeak had the intended effect. The sphinx retreated from the boy, her legs moving against her will. All of her muscles were flexed taut and shaking, as though she was trying her hardest to fight against the orders, but it would not work.

"Why are you attacking mortals?" asked Nico, trying to avoid the bloody carcass on the floor as he approached the sphinx.

The sphinx laughed, "I am the one who will ask the questions. That is, if you allow me. I will either ask you a riddle, or will devour you right now. It is your choice."

Nico looked to the other two, but he realized that he was not going to be receiving much help from the two. Drew looked completely shattered, her mascara trailing down her cheeks and her eyes completely red and puffy. Daniel didn't look that great, either. He held up his glowing sword in defense, but his arms were shaking and his usually tan skin was incredibly pale.

"Nico, we're dumb. If she asks the riddle and we don't get it she'll kill us, just like she'll try to kill us right now. It's better for her to try to fight us now, we can take her," said Daniel.

"We should at least try," said Nico.

Daniel shook his head, "According to the story of Oedipus the sphinx became more blood-thirsty if you answered the riddle wrong."

"But what if we get it right?" said Nico. The sphinx was now sitting and watching them in amusement, her bloodstained mouth upturned into a devious smile, flashing her fangs at them.

"I need a decision, little demigods," she cooed.

"Nico, I swear to Dionysus, the riddle is a bad idea. Drew's in terrible condition, and I'm dumb and it takes me a while to understand what some people are saying even if the English is clear. We have to fight," he said.

Nico shook his head, turning to the sphinx, "What's the riddle?" he asked.

"Nico di Angelo! I swear to Zeus I will decapitate you right now," exclaimed Daniel.

The sphinx laughed and began to circle around them dangerously like how a lion would circle its prey. When it came to the body of the dead Starbucks employee it simply stepped right through it, dragging the boy's organs on the tile floor.

"I view the world in little space,  
Am always restless, changing place;  
No food I eat, but, by my power,  
Procure what millions do devour," said the sphinx, black eyes glittering dangerously.

Daniel punched Nico repeatedly, "See, asshole! That makes absolutely no sense!" he said.

"At least let me think about it, gods," said Nico, his heart racing in his chest. He cursed himself for being so stubborn. He should have listened to Daniel in the first place, because he had no clue what the answer could possibly be.

"Just guess," said the sphinx with a smirk, "Maybe you'll get it right."

"Drew, can you charmspeak it to stand down?" Daniel asked her.

She shook her head, "It's too powerful," she said, her voice cracking, "It won't work."

"Not like getting a guy to give you a free coffee, huh?" spat Nico.

Drew glared at Nico, "Is this really the time to make me feel like crap, Corpse Breath?" she snarled.

"Tick tock," said the sphinx in a mocking sing-song voice.

"If only it were one of the riddles from _The Hobbit,_" mumbled Daniel.

"Final chance, demigods. You give me the correct answer, or I attack," the sphinx said, stopping in front of the three.

Nico looked to the two other demigods, who were holding up their weapons, ready for the strike. "Sorry, guys," he said.

Drew shook her head, "Don't be, we have this. We're going to kill this ugly bitch," she said, and immediately Nico felt a surge of power and confidence run through him. He wondered if she had just charmspoke them, but he couldn't be sure.

"Your time is up, demigod treats," said the sphinx with a huge smile on her face that showed all her teeth. Her mouth curled into a fierce smile and she leaped at them.

Her leap fell short. Daniel motioned to the Starbucks display of their fresh produce. Suddenly, the grapes that were in their grew vines that burst through the glass as fast as a bullet and wrapped around the monster's legs, making it fall on its face. Nico charged the beast and swiped at it with his blade. The sphinx dodged the attack and tried to claw at his face. He held up his arm to protect himself, and the claws ripped a hole in his aviator jacket.

"Oh, you did not just try to disfigure his beautiful face," snarled Daniel, then charged at the sphinx, his glowing sword casting eerie shadows over the monster.

Daniel swung his sword down on the sphinx, who caught the blade in its claws and threw it along with Daniel down to the floor. It tried to pounce on him, claws and fangs outstretched towards him. At the last second, Daniel rolled away and the sphinx landed on the ground. Unfortunately, he had rolled into the puddle of blood and guts of the dead Starbucks worker.

He got up quick as lightning, grabbing his sword in the process. He looked down at himself in disgust, his clothes were completely soaked in blood and other bodily fluids. "Jesus Christ," he said, then started to swear profusely in Spanish.

The sphinx changed gears and ran towards Nico. Nico backed up a considerable amount, then raised his sword to defend himself. He started to run to the sphinx with sword arm outstretched. The sphinx swiped at him with its claws, and Nico ducked and stabbed upward, just missing the beast.

He found himself cornered against the wall and about to be overcome. He hated feeling cornered, and he was just about to create a fissure in the earth and raise the dead to fight for him, but a voice rang out in the shop.

"_What's wrong, sphinx?_" shouted Drew, voice so thick with charmspeak that Nico felt his mind become completely out of his own control, "_Are you too afraid to face a daughter of Aphrodite that you'll just focus on killing these boys? Come and fight me!_"

_She's completely insane_, thought Nico. The sphinx immediately turned from Nico to rush at Drew, who stood with her feet shoulder-width apart and stuck to the ground, as though the sphinx was going to try to run her over instead of maul her to death. Nico started to rush to her side, but she flashed him a look so dangerous that it stopped him in his tracks.

Now that he was closer to her he saw that she was pale and sweating, and that even though her knife was out in front of her threateningly, her whole arm was shaking in fright. Daniel stood a couple of feet away from her, watching intently and holding his sword so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were turning white.

Right as the sphinx was a couple of feet away from her, Drew held up her hand and gave one powerful command, "_Stop!_" she commanded, and the sphinx stopped in its tracks, struggling and trying to fight the charmspeak.

"Don't just stand there!" she yelled to the boys, "Help!"

Immediately the two ran to action. Daniel gestured to the grape vines that were resting on the floor, and they started to twitch and grow. He moved his arms in one swift motion and the vines attacked the sphinx, wrapping around it and restraining it with incredible force.

Very quickly the sphinx was completely unable to move under the prison of the vines. It struggled and tried to rip the vines apart with her claws or her teeth, but the vines simply grew bigger and multiplied greatly. Nico saw his opportunity, and charged the sphinx from behind, sinking his sword deep into its flesh.

The sphinx gave a deafening roar that shook the whole building, and continued to roar until it dissolved completely into dust.

The three questmates stared in shock at where the sphinx once stood, now nothing but dust, blood, and grape vines. Drew looked at the pile, completely shattered. She dropped her knife and then dropped to the ground, her face empty in shock. She ran her hands through her hair anxiously, and Nico felt really concerned at just how much her hands were shaking.

She looked over to the dead body of the Starbucks worker, her eyes filling with tears once more. She quickly wiped them away on the sleeve of her shirt, along with the rest of the smudged mascara and eyeliner.

"Well," she said after she had composed herself, "This day was a total waste of makeup."

"C'mon, guys," said Nico, his hand outstretched to Drew. She took it, and Nico helped her off the floor. "I don't like the way that roar sounded. It sounded like she was calling out to others."

"She better not have reinforcements," said Daniel, who sheathed his sword. He looked down at his blood-soaked pullover hoodie with a frown. He sighed and took it off, struggling to get it over his head. As he stretched his arms to peel it off his form, his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt rode up along right with the hoodie, his lower stomach and belly button peeking out, a small happy trail leading into his pants.

Nico tore his eyes away, realizing he had been staring. He hoped that Daniel hadn't noticed, knowing that he would give him so much grief for it.

Daniel threw his hoodie on the counter, where it landed with a disgusting squishing noise, "That was my favorite hoodie," he remarked sadly.

Nico patted his back sympathetically, "She tore my aviator jacket," he said.

"That bitch," he said, shaking his head, "C'mon, Ghost King, princess. The sword is telling me that we should take the New Jersey Transit." He put his arm over his shoulder and began to walk. Nico didn't have to the heart to push him away, even if he was still kind of covered in blood.

* * *

As they started to walk away from the Starbucks, about five police cars pulled up to the scene. The three teenagers started to walk briskly away, but it was no use.

"Hey, you three!" called out a cop with a thick New Jersey accent.

They all sighed and turned back towards the Starbucks. A tall police officer with a buzz cut walked up to them, looking the three over suspiciously. If it wasn't for the blood all over Daniel, Nico thought, they might have gotten out of talking to the man.

"I would try to get us out of this, but I'm so drained. I doubt I'd be able to do anything," said Drew.

"It's fine, we'll just have to talk our way out of this," said Nico, "What seems to be the problem, officer?"

The officer looked at them with narrowed eyes, "I saw that you three were walking out of the Starbucks. You see, we've gotten many calls about a bomb going off there, so you can see why it seems a little suspicious why you would be leaving the scene."

"We were actually on our way home from school. We usually get Starbucks before we go home, but when we got there it was already like this," said Drew. She was trying her best to be persuasive, but Nico could tell that she had burned out most of her charmspeaking abilities during the fight against the sphinx.

The officer was definitely not buying it. He turned to Daniel, "And why are you covered in blood, son?" he asked.

"Nose bleed," said Daniel immediately. Nico suppressed the urge to facepalm.

"Nose bleed?" said the officer in disbelief.

He nodded, "Yup, I get really bad nose bleeds all the time."

"Well, if you kids truly have nothing to hide, then you won't mind if I check your backpack," he said, his hand outstretched to take the backpack.

Daniel gulped and gave an uneasy smile, "Of course not, officer. Take a look," he said, handing the backpack over reluctantly.

Drew gave Daniel a questioning look about his attitude at giving the police officer the backpack. Nico was confused as well, the Mist would obscure any deadly weapons or anything Greek in origin, and the rest of the things in the backpack had to be perfectly harmless. He didn't understand what the big deal was.

Suddenly, the police officer's mouth upturned into a big smile that concerned Nico. Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose in panic. "What do we have here?" he said, reaching into backpack.

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past all four of their heads. The three teenagers turned quickly around to see a large group of men on horses galloping towards them. But as they came closer, Nico realized that they weren't men at all.

"Centaurs," said Drew.

"The sphinx's reinforcements," said Daniel, eyes widening.

"Yeah, those are definitely not the party ponies," said Nico, and with one shared look they all knew what they had to do - run like hell.

* * *

A/N: Merry Christmas, everyone! Or whatever holiday you celebrate. Consider this a holiday gift from me, even if I would have updated anyway if it wasn't a holiday - but, hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

I hope you guys enjoyed this action-packed chapter. Thanks to Supercian, Stormgirl415, and malamuteblizzy for the nice reviews :) I know I say this all the time, but your feedback really does motivate me to update. You guys are the best, I swear.

Oh! I can't believe I almost totally forgot. If you figure out the Sphinx's riddle then you get mad props and bragging rights as well as the satisfaction that you are one smart cookie. No looking it up online, though, that's cheating. And before I look like some kind of smart cookie myself, I must admit that I spent about an hour searching Google for a good riddle. I'm a fraud, I'm sorry. Anyway - leave a review with the answer and next chapter I'll tell you if you're right?

Next chapter, the trio take the New Jersey Transit. It's actually going to be more exciting than it sounds, hopefully.


	7. Not Your Average Pony Ride

Daniel grabbed the backpack out of the cop's hand and zipped it back up in one smooth motion. They ran down the street, pushing through the group of police officers, dodging arrows as they went. Looking back, Nico saw a couple of Police Officers fall, arrows sticking out of them. This, of course, only urged him to run faster. If these monster were willing to kill a couple of mortals just to get to some Half-Bloods, then he definitely did not want to get caught.

"I think I saw a train station a couple blocks down," yelled Drew, going in front of the trio and directing them. Nico, hoping that her sense of direction hadn't been impaired by her recent emotional breakdown, had no choice but to follow her and hope that she remembered correctly.

The Centaurs were gaining fast. Unfortunately, a couple of teenage kids were no match in speed to a horse. They tried to dodge the arrows firing at them, but there were so many that Nico was seriously beginning to worry that they wouldn't be able to make it to the train station in time.

An arrow whizzed right past the side of him, coming dangerously close. It ripped the sleeve of his jacket, just grazing the skin. Nico winced, but was grateful that it was just a scratch and nothing more.

"There it is!" exclaimed Drew, pointing to big stone building on the other side of the street. They crossed the street running, much to chagrin of the drivers honking their horns at them. The drivers soon found out that they had other, more pressing, problems. The Centaurs followed them across the street, causing cars to swerve out of their lane, driving off the road or crashing into other drivers. Some Centaurs simply ran right over the cars, leaping from hood to hood, denting exteriors and breaking windshields.

Arrows flew from every angle, the shooting becoming less accurate and more erratic. The trio ran into the big stone building, and Nico saw from the big metal lettering on the front of the building that it was _Newark Peen Sattion._ No, that couldn't be right, he said to himself and cursing his dyslexia. However, his mind turned quickly to things more important than trying to decipher the name of the train station, like trying to stay alive as he dodged arrows flying overhead.

The second that the three of them emerged through the doors into a grand hall, the Centaurs immediately followed, causing mass panic in the station. Whatever the mortals saw through the Mist, it was definitely something incredibly bad considering their reactions. It was for the best, as well, as the Centaurs started to shoot their arrows into the crowds of panicking people and gave no second thought to trampling them.

"This way!" yelled Drew, and they ran down the escalator to the actual station. There was one train that was being boarded, and the three demigods ran straight toward it. Many of the mortals had the same idea, and in the chaos no one showed any workers their tickets, they simply stampeded onto the train.

The demigods jumped onto the train, the Centaurs right behind them and firing arrows into it. People yelled for the doors to close, and at last possible second before any of the Centaurs could board they finally did. The Centaurs banged on the doors and windows, but the trained started to move and they luckily weren't able to make any progress in trying to shatter the windows or break down the door.

The train traveled until the station shrunk as it became farther and farther away. Everybody on board seemed to exhale a breath they had all collectively been holding and took a seat or found some place to hold on to. Nico's heart finally started to slow to a normal pace, and he looked over himself to make sure everything was okay. He looked to his arm where the arrow had nicked him. It seemed fine. It bled only a little and Nico decided not to worry about it right then.

He looked to Drew, who looked perfectly fine, if not a little shaken and out of breath. She grabbed onto one of the poles and leaned against it, trying to catch her breath. Daniel, however, was a completely different story. Nico looked at him, then gasped in horror.

"Daniel!" he exclaimed, then pointed to his left side where the head of an arrow was sticking out of him. The arrow had entered him from behind and had gone all the way through, with a good four inches sticking out of him on either side, front and back. If the situation were not as dire, he would have remarked that he looked like a shish kabob.

Daniel looked down and gulped, "'Tis only a flesh wound," he said, but his face had turned pale. Drew had her hand over her mouth and looked like she was going to be sick.

Daniel reached with his left hand to the end of the arrow sticking out of his back. He broke off the feathered end and threw it on the ground. He then took a shaky breath and held onto the arrowhead that was sticking out of his front with two hands.

"What in Hades are you doing?" said Nico, panic rising in his chest.

"This is the only way to fix it," he said, talking so fast that his words were slurring together, "They told us in camp that if you ever get shot by an arrow that you pray to gods that it goes all the way through because the only way you can hope to survive is if you pull it out through you." He then closed his eyes tight and bit his lip so hard that he drew blood. He gave a hard tug on the arrowhead, its sharp edges sinking into the palms of his hands. He pulled, and the arrow slowly emerged from his side. The wooden shaft of the arrow was deep red with blood, and it he pulled it through him inch by inch.

With one final tug Daniel pulled the end of arrow out of him. By this time he was pale and sweating. He dropped the arrow at his feet and held on to his side, which was now bleeding out.

"Oh gods," he said staring at the blood that was now staring to pool from underneath his hands, and his eyes began to roll up. Drew and Nico immediately sprang to action. They held onto him, making sure that he didn't collapse. His eyes closed and his body went limp. A couple of concerned mortals who had been watching the whole time got up from their seats, and Drew and Nico dragged him over to the open seats and laid him across them so that he was laying on his back.

"We need some ambrosia or nectar right now," said Nico, his voice shaking. He took off the orange Camp t-shirt from Daniel and scrunched it up into a ball and pressed it into the wound on his side, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. He hoped that Daniel didn't care, since the shirt was already ruined from bloodstains before he had ever gotten hurt.

Drew returned with the backpack that Daniel had dropped on the floor of the train. She opened it up and brought out a plastic water bottle filled with nectar. She sat next to him on the train seat and held his head in her lap, lifting it slightly as she opened his mouth and poured some nectar down it.

"He's not bleeding out that much, I just think he's in shock. That's probably why he fainted," said Nico, peeking underneath the bloodstained cloth. Blood bubbled up through the wound, but Nico could tell that the Nectar was already working its magic. The bleeding had slowed considerably and parts of the wound were starting to scab over already. He set the t-shirt back down and applied gentle pressure.

"He's going to be fine," he said, and he truly did believe that.

Drew shook her head, combing her fingers slowly through Daniel's hair, his head still resting in her lap. "This is all my fault," she said.

"Hey, don't think like that, okay?" said Nico, "Trust me, with the monsters being as bad as they are - no matter where we stopped - the second we stepped out of that car we were going to be attacked. There was nothing you could do to stop this."

Drew shrugged, "I guess," she said softly, "but the guy at Starbucks... he wasn't going to get attacked."

Nico sighed and tried as hard as he could to gather all the empathy he had in his body which, granted, was not all that much. He was never good at comforting people, but he knew that he had to now. "You can't beat yourself up about that," he said, "It was beyond all of our control. And you definitely made sure that bitch got what she deserved. If it weren't for you it would have been a lot harder to kill the Sphinx."

Drew allowed herself a small smile, "I suppose so," she said, "Still doesn't make up for the fact that I treated that guy terribly right before he died. Who knows if his last thoughts were actually his or the ones I put in there."

Nico shifted in his seat, hands still on the bloodstained shirt. Before, Nico would not have a second thought about calling Drew a manipulative bitch. Before today it seemed like she even prided herself on that title. But now Nico couldn't be so sure. He wondered if the doubts about her powers had always been there, or if they appeared just today. Nico knew, however, that they always had to have been there. She was a demigod, after all.

"Look, Drew. It's perfectly normal to feel conflicted about your powers. You're actually talking to the right person when it comes to this. And I bet if Daniel were conscious, he'd definitely agree with me. I know from experience that not everything your parent gives you is a gift. Daniel and I are pretty good examples of that. So whenever you feel bad or conflicted about your abilities, just remember that you're in good company, okay?"

Drew sniffed and nodded, using her sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes even though it wasn't needed, she had stopped crying a while ago. "Thanks Nico. That really does help," she said.

The train slowed to a stop and a metallic voice rang out from the speakers, gurgling out the name of the station.

"We're on the red line," remarked Nico, looking at a map of the train system hanging up across from him, "How far do you think we should keep on going?"

Drew shrugged, "We should at least wait for Daniel, he's supposed to be our navigator," she said.

Nico nodded and looked down, finally taking a good look at the unconscious son of Dionysus. His skin was starting to return back to its normal color, he observed, which was definitely a good sign. He looked over his face. There were no bruises or scratches, just some blood on his cheek that wasn't even his. Even though Nico knew that he was unconscious, he actually looked peaceful - like he was taking a nap. His long eyelashes rested gently against his cheeks, and his lips were parted ever so slightly.

He studied his torso. Nico peeked underneath the blood-stained shirt once more. The wound had closed all the way, and he had stopped bleeding completely. Nico thanked the gods for Nectar. What had started off as a hole going completely though the side of him was now replaced with fragile pink-hued skin. Granted, his whole torso was covered in blood, but he didn't have an open wound in danger of infection anymore. Nico saw that there was a huge bruise up his whole left side, traveling up to his chest. Nico wondered if it was from the arrow wound, but he assumed that it was from the fight with the Sphinx. Even though the bruise looked pretty ugly, the Nectar was working on mending that as well as it very slowly faded.

"Have you never seen a shirtless boy, before?" teased Drew.

Nico glared at her jokingly, "You know what I was doing."

"Yeah, checking him out," she said, sticking out her tongue at him.

Nico rolled his eyes, chuckling. He had to admit, though, just because he was looking him over for injuries didn't mean he couldn't enjoy what he was seeing. He didn't try to pay much mind to his own thoughts, though. Nico knew just how well that turned out for him last time - he was over pining over guys that didn't like him back.

At that moment Daniel started to stir, his eyes opening slightly, "Who's checking me out?' he slurred, his voice weak and cracking.

"Nico," said Drew, and Nico glared at her once more.

Daniel smiled sleepily, and Nico couldn't help but smile himself. He scrunched his face up, cheeks reddening slightly and he shook his head in Drew's lap, curls bouncing, "Don't look at me," he whined, "I'm practically naked."

Nico laughed, half out of the cuteness of his actions and half out of relief that he was okay. "How do you feel?" he asked him.

Daniel raised his arms to rub his eyes, then groaned in pain, "I feel like drinking until my internal organs start a revolution and leave."

Drew giggled, "Do you hear your organs sing? It is the song of alcoholism," she said in a sing-song voice.

"What in Hades are you guys talking about?" said Nico, "I swear, you guys make so many references that fly right over my head and I'm getting sick of it."

This caused Drew and Daniel to laugh, but Daniel cut his laughter short, clutching his side and wincing, "Laughing hurts," he whined, "Sorry, I forgot that you were really eighty years old."

Nico rolled his eyes in jest, "Kids these days. I can't keep up with you whipper-snappers."

Daniel chuckled, then punched him weakly in the chest, "Don't make me laugh, asshole."

Drew smiled with them. She seemed incredibly relieved that Daniel was alright. "If you're feeling up to it, could you see if we're going in the right direction? We're on the red line, and we're going southwest. We can always get off at the next stop if we need to," said Drew.

Daniel nodded, "We're going the right way, now. Where does the line end?"

Nico looked back to the map, "Trenton," he said.

"Okay, we can take the line all the way down, then," he said, "Then we can continue our quest from there."

Drew pursed her lips, "I think we should actually get a hotel and spend the night," she said.

Nico nodded, "Yeah, that's a good idea. I think we all need a little bit of rest."

Daniel frowned, "I don't know, guys. We're supposed to finish the quest by Halloween."

"Which is a week away," Nico pointed out, "We'll have enough time, we'll be fine."

Daniel didn't look all too happy about it, but he nodded anyway.

"How does that work, anyway?" asked Drew, "Your sword? How do you know the way to go?"

Daniel rose his head from her lap and sat up slowly and with great difficulty. He sat up on the seat and rested against it, leaning slightly on Nico's shoulder.

"Well, in my mind it glows like this purplish color, and the glowing travels into the direction the magic is coming from. And when I close my eyes I can almost picture it on a map. I get the feeling of the actual place were we should go," he said.

"Your sword was glowing when we fought the Sphinx," said Nico.

Daniel raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "You saw it, too?"

He nodded. Daniel unsheathed his sword a little so that a couple inches of the blade was showing. However, the only color Nico saw was the slightly glowing celestial bronze.

"Do you see it?" asked Daniel.

Nico shook his head, "Maybe it only glows when the actual magic is present. Like it only glows for everyone when monsters are around," he suggested.

Daniel's face lit up, "My sword glows whenever monsters are around," he said happily, "This is like _Lord of the Rings_ or _The Hobbit_. This is so cool, now I _have _to name my sword Sting."

"You're such a loser," said Drew.

He shrugged, "I'm a loser who is getting cold. Hand me the backpack so I can grab a shirt."

Drew handed him the backpack, "Sorry, Nico," she said, to which Daniel snickered.

Nico scoffed, "It's not like there's even much to see," he said, "I'm not broken up over it, trust me. I'd actually prefer it if you put a shirt on. Maybe you can also find a paper bag to put over your head while you're at it."

Drew laughed maniacally, "He just called you ugly!" she said, giggling.

Daniel put his hand over his heart and stared at Nico in shock, "Nico, I'm hurt. How could you say such a thing?" he said, then dramatically mimed wiping tears from his eyes.

Nico laughed, punching his shoulder softly, "C'mon, it's all in good fun. You should know that you need someone to deflate your ego from time to time."

Daniel stuck out his tongue at him the straightened his new shirt, which was a plain olive-green one, "You know that you love it," he joked.

"You're just proving my point," said Nico, laughing.

The three teenagers exited the train at the Trenton Stop. Daniel kept his sword out to make sure that no monsters were near - hopefully all the mortals saw was a hockey stick or something else non-threatening. Nico looked over to the sword, now named Sting, every so often to make sure that it was not glowing. Nico wasn't sure what he would do if it was - run like hell, probably.

Drew asked passers-by about the hotels in the area. After she decided that she had sufficient enough information to make a decision, she returned to the boys waiting for her right outside the station.

"There's a Holiday Inn about a block from here," she said, "It's not very classy, but it's close and it will have to do."

They began to walk towards where Drew had learned the Holiday Inn was. "Hey, I'm not complaining," said Daniel, swinging his sword as he walked in a way that concerned Nico, "Holiday Inn sounds pretty classy to me. Of course, you're probably used to hotels like the Tipton or something."

Drew gave him a dirty look, but her face quickly broke into a grin, "You seriously don't know the names of any fancy hotels? You had to use the name of a hotel from a children's sitcom?"

Nico huffed, "You guys need to start making references that I understand," he said.

Daniel ruffled his hair affectionately, "C'mon, old man. Maybe our hotel room will have a television and we can begin your education on all things pop-culture. You do know what a television is, right?"

Nico pushed him away playfully and straightened out his hair, "I hate you guys so much," he said, but with a smile on his face.

They reached the hotel in a short amount of time. Drew told the boys to wait outside because, "You both look like you were literally dragged out of hell by the hair. They'll never let us get a room with you two looking like that, charmspeak or not." She then assured them that she would handle it, but not without insulting their appearance a couple more times.

Not even a minute later, Drew stuck her head outside, smiling wide. "That was too easy," she said, "Come on, guys, we have the presidential suite!"

Daniel and Nico followed Drew excitedly through the lobby, garnering many odd stares in the process. Nico couldn't help but laugh to himself, though. They could stare at the ratty-looking teenagers and judge them all they wanted, but they weren't the ones staying in the presidential suite, now were they?

They all filed into the elevator and bounced excitedly as they watched the numbers light up closer and closer to their room. If Nico had to be honest, he was really looking forward to laying down in a bed. Even though they had been at the Brooklyn House yesterday, it already felt like that was a thousand years ago.

The elevator finally dinged an affirmative response as they reached the top floor. All three demigods ran excitedly out of the elevator, running over patrons as they went.

Drew swiped her room key and opened the door to reveal a spacious and nicely decorated room. The three stood in the doorway for a moment to take it all in. Then, they all simultaneously ran into the room and flopped onto the queen-sized bed.

They all groaned in delight. "I was getting ready to consign myself to never enjoy the true pleasures of life again," said Drew dramatically, stretching her body over the bed.

Nico snorted, "Well, don't get too comfortable. We can only stay here for a day, max. Considering the state of the monsters it probably isn't a good idea to stay in one place for too long."

Daniel flopped over onto his stomach with his face nestled into the sheets, "Please don't ruin this for us," he said.

Nico sat up on the bed, "We can't just relax today, though," he said, "Instead of just wasting time here we should make the most of it try and figure out who is the mastermind behind the attacks."

The other two followed suit and sat up on the bed, "How are we supposed to figure that out? It's not like we have a lot to go on," said Drew.

Daniel nodded, "All we know is that she's an instigator sorceress. Hell, we've both had visions about her, but I know in mine I never even saw her face."

Nico shook his head, "I didn't either. But that's exactly our problem, we need knowledge if we want to be successful."

"Well, what do you suggest we do, Corpse Breath?" Asked Drew.

"I think we need to take a visit to McDonald's."

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and New Years. I also hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was a lot of fun to write and a total bitch to edit, but it's all good because its FINALLY posted.

The answer to the Sphinx's riddle from last chapter was The Sun. I know Idonotget got the answer, so congratulations! You win the satisfaction of knowing that you figured it out! Also it was pretty ironic that the one who got the answer had the username Idonotget. That was pretty cool. On that note, thanks to Harpsflame, Supercian, Idonotget, and malamuteblizzy for their incredibly nice reviews! You guys are the best, I swear.

Next chapter may take a little longer to be posted since school is starting up this upcoming week and the remaining pre-written chapters have a LOT of work to be done on them. But hopefully you won't be waiting any longer than two weeks at the most. I would really like to keep this story active.

Next chapter, Nico buys five happy meals and some questmates become slightly under the influence. Stay tuned!


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